Kristi Ann Wooten

Son became incapable of self care; had to 100% care for him as he was diagnosed with a disabling illness and is now declared disabled. I had been on phone with Mr. Fanney many times, and he said not to worry that it was still in the court system and he would call me if there was an issue. I was at a ...hospital for 2 months with my son for invasive procedures called, Electroconvolsive Seizures treatments for over 15 treatments over 2 months to save his life from a diagnosis where medical was not working. I got a call from Wooten that they had to withdraw immediately; I asked if someone else on firm could take my case because I was so reliant on the terms of my separation to care for my son. I told them in detail I wanted to move ahead but needed to get home , get in-home nurse for my son, etc…. And I had ZERO help from his father or family because originally from another state and moved to Virginia for his dads career. The case manager said, due to ethics, and this problem with your son has taken too long we have to remove from your case. I said basically, “ OMG” please do not do this; at least let me find another attorney to replace; or help me find a referral so I can “substitute “ and inform the court” I cant jeopardize my son’s care. Lacey Favila read my file wrong and said my case had been going on for over 10 years. I said “NOT” . Fanney knew my case, however, and I could not help my son’s emergency and said he had almost lost his life secretly times and that these hospital treatments were the culmination of 2 years of trying to get answers for his illness. Right when I was going to move forward, I was told Fanney was leaving- that same hour, I phoned back and made an appointment with Kristi Wooten to continue and move ahead ( with an assurance now that my son’s care had been addressed and he was safe now with in-home care, so I can leave the home for proceedings, and my attention to the case) The appointment was in approximately 1 months time, Well, I was phoned by Ms. Favila soon after that I had to continue on the spot, and shamed and criticized for not having it already finished and moved forward the last year! I said: Mr. Fanney said as fully aware of the emergency etc…. She did not hear or listen to a word I said and gave me 24 hours ( literally she said call me by 10am tommorrow or else! we drop you) I said OK, I was crying! I was so upset that nothing had been said to the firm, Kristi, or anyone; and no one told me there was a legal problem with my show cause motion having a delay; which only Fanney could have said they needed to file a continuance or something; how am I supposed to know. Because I waited 2 days to leave a message for Favila, they cancelled my appointment with Wooten and I never got to continue all the hard work I put in with Fanney. It was critical I had that next appointment to discuss my son, as he was listed in the terms of my separation agreement with his college scholarship and brightness in the first place. Now he is chronically ill. They cancelled and charged me $800 to withdraw and could not wait 1 month. Fanney had left the firm; how is this my fault.

Don’t waste your money! These people only want to take your money. They are not interested in your family in the least. They claim they will stand up for your children, but they won’t. The attorney missed my discovery deadline, costing me thousands of dollars in child support payments, despite th...at I asked him about it 4 times in a month and half. The attorney ignored my emails! I brought this to Kristi Wooten’s attention. I asked her multiple times why this happened. She refused to answer me! Then my attorney quit and Wooten gave me only three days notice to decide if I wanted to stay with their firm or not. I was told by my attorney that if my temporary Custody Order wasn’t working out I could take my case to trial. It wasn’t, as my children were still being abused. When I told Mr. Fanney to take a stand, he laughed in my face! It took Kristi Wooten 3 weeks to respond to my concerns and then she promptly advised that if I wanted to take this to trial, they would quit. She only gave me a day and a half to decide despite that she took weeks to respond to me! They would not honor their word! In Kristi Wooten’s “justification” for not honoring their word, she cited “facts” of my case as her reasoning. She got the facts wrong! She was citing things that never even happened in my case! Then they failed to give me my entire file upon request. I emailed the paralegal to point out that a letter I paid thousands of dollars for the attorney to write to the GAL, with exhibits, was missing. She then emailed me the letter with only 6 of the exhibits! There were 21! The paralegal then seemed confused when I asked for the rest of the file. Finally, after a back-and-forth, I received all of the exhibits I paid for. They made sure they took their money for “representing” me at the child support hearing that they were completely unprepared for though. Kristi Wooten will charge for every last minute thing she does on the file, even if it is incorrect. They are all about the money. Then they blame their clients when their clients get fed up with their incompetence. Go somewhere else that actually cares. Please.

Smart, focused, ETHICAL. Hit all objectives, even those I had not thought of. Before I hired her, I checked her reviews. Weird that the same negative review experience pops up every few years. Sad that one scorned apple can turn away others. She is the best and I would not go anywhere else for c...ustody and visitation issues. Ms. Wooten is always there and remembers everything without having to rehash my situation. Her staff is always available to me and they really care. I am so glad I found Ms. Wooten.

We retained Kristi and her firm for a custody matter, to include support and having the order transferred. She only even attempted to accomplish one of our 3 objectives and went way over the estimate. Then she claimed, that certain things were dismissed at our request, after telling us they'd not be ...heard because they weren't on the docket. Her firm forgot to continue a hearing, admitted they forgot to continue the hearing, and then charged us to appear. She often didn't respond at all to emails or calls and had shady billing practices where she starting charging you interest when the work was allegedly completed, but then didn't invoice you for months at a time so there was no way to know you were accruing interest.

Wooten promised the world—she could do this, she could do that, she would win primary custody--up until I signed the retainer agreement. Then it was, “well it all depends on the judge”. I gave her info and she was supposed to subpoena evidence. She showed up in court and didn’t have any of it.... When I got my file, I saw she had never even gotten evidence she billed me for reviewing. She even lost evidence I’d given her—evidence the judge wanted to see. She never said a word—made it look like I had kept the stuff. She sat there daydreaming while opposing counsel cross examined me. She never raised an objection to the questions that should not have been admissible--unlike opposing counsel who objected to everything. Wooten got so flustered with opposing counsel’s objections that at one point she just gave up and said “no more questions.” Wooten doesn’t return phone calls. To communicate with her, you have to schedule a phone interview (for which she charges by the minute) or email her. Six months after my case closed, I got return receipts showing emails I’d sent her while she was handling my case had been deleted without ever being read. Wooten either doesn’t know what she’s doing or just doesn’t care.