Monica R. Guy

Monica and Micah were an amazing duo to work with in my divorce case! Very responsive, professional, personable, knowledgeable, and compassionate. Even when Monica was out on vacation, she took the time to respond to my emails, which meant so much to me. Seeing the complete opposite from the opposing... side, I can’t tell you how blessed I felt to have Monica and Micah representing me, definitely a Godsend! Both ladies were extremely approachable and explained things in a very understandable way. Also, despite the challenging, emotional circumstances the process was very smooth. Thank you Monica and Micah for everything!

Monica Guy represented me in a challenging child custody case. She was consistently available to me through email, text, phone calls and in person when I needed her most. She helped guide me through many complex situations and decisions with the greatest empathy, always giving me her advice, but also... supporting me if wished to go in another direction. She was very upfront about the possibilities that I could face, and helped me make decisions based on her knowledge of the law and previous cases in which she had been involved. We were able to settle outside of court through mediation, where she was by my side the entire time. Monica’s dedication to me and my children made me feel comfortable, cared for and strongly supported throughout what was certainly the hardest and worst experience of my life. Even now, a year after my settlement, Monica has been quickly and completely available to me when concerns arise. I would recommend her to anyone involved in a family law dispute.

Monica is a bright, pleasant individual, and very knowledgeable about the basics of family law. Unfortunately, however, I cannot recommend her outside of routine, non-contentious divorces, at least for supporting spouses. From the start, Monica politely ignored my warnings that my ex would avoid ...work at all costs (and therefore could not be relied on to reduce future child support obligations) and appeared genuinely surprised when, two years later, my predictions proved accurate. I also advised Monica that I had a good job but a very specialized one which, if lost, would require a move out of state (or, alternatively, a significant drop in income). I advised her that mediation was unlikely to be fruitful, as my ex was unlikely to agree to anything remotely reasonable, equitable or even feasible. Monica persuaded me to mediate anyway, arguing that mediation could, if nothing else, enable her to see what pushed my ex's buttons for use later at trial. Instead we showed up for mediation sessions in which the parties were in separate rooms the entire time, giving neither lawyer any opportunity to learn anything about the other's client. Monica then persuaded me to sign a rather lopsided custody agreement, together with a generous alimony agreement in the form of a contract rather than the customary consent order (she did not advise that the latter was customary). The following year, I lost my job through no fault of my own. A consent order (or a better contract) could have been drastically reduced for changed circumstances, but the document Monica had had me sign could not be. Her standard agreement, which I was not even allowed to review prior to the mediation settlement in which I was pressured into signing it, also contained numerous other significant errors, including two provisions that each read as party-neutral in a vacuum but which, taken together, arguably made me responsible for all transportation in both directions. It did not provide for full holiday vacations as recognized in Forsyth Co. (Winston-Salem) schools, and the birthday section provided time with the children for the parties' birthdays, not the children's. Now, as a result of following Monica's advice, my 401(k) is depleted, I am teetering on bankruptcy, subject to an impossible alimony agreement (now reduced to a specific performance order, the worst of both worlds) that I cannot pay going forward, and that cannot even be discharged in bankruptcy as a regular contract could. I have not seen my children on either of their birthdays in years, and cannot even tell them why without arguably violating the custody order Monica had me sign. My time with the children has since been cut by the guardian ad litem she advised me to engage. Googling "guardian ad litem" produces no shortage of horror stories, which I took very seriously, and never would have engaged one voluntarily if Monica had not persuaded me these guys were better. They were not. Their report was rife with misrepresentations, some careless and inconsequential, others just "happening" to help my ex. One, conveniently the non-lawyer, went as far as to perjure herself about the distance between our houses to argue for less time. Absent Monica's recommendation, neither would have played any role at all. As a lawyer with no litigation or family law experience, and who wasn't even licensed in NC at the time of divorce, I took to heart the popular adage that "a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client." But I am clearly in a worse position for having hired BD&P and followed most of Monica's advice. Ironically, she dropped me as a client for not following even more bad advice, which would have worsened matters further. It pains me to write this because I like her on a personal level. I'm sure she was trying to help, but given her current competence and experience level, coupled with the relative lack of supervision, she is in over her head.