Robert Kendall Abbott Jr.

The Abbotts were thorough and fast acting when I needed them. The relationship with my partner took a turn and I needed experts to help me figure out how to handle this new and upsetting situation. They made the calls, filled out the necessary paperwork, and showed up when I needed them for an urgent aspect of my case. I cannot reccomend them highly enough.

During one of the worst times of my life I was forced to file divorce and seek legal council when my ex-wife made some false accusations and filed a warrant to be issued for my arrest as well as a TPO. BJ was the first lawyer to call me back and he presented to be a good option for my legal defense and in the beginning he was. During the TPO and Warrant issue he charged a reasonable flat rate and he was amazing in court. He represented me well and was able to assist me in getting both cases dropped. The only complaint I had at that point was the way he would misrepresent information to me. I went 26 days without seeing by daughter and half of that time was because BJ had a conflict and asked for our hearing to be moved. Which may have been fine if he explained it to me prior to making that call and was honest as opposed to telling me that the courts calendar rescheduled my case. The second major issue was when we finally had mediation scheduled for a friday afternoon I believe. Atlanta had been on somewhat of a inclement weather warning for a possible ice storm for the entire week. BJ decided to wait until the morning of to reschedule our mediation and had his secretary tell me that "The courts are closed due to weather" the only problem is that it was 7:00 am and the court doesn't open until 9:00 am. Something just didn't make sense; so I waited until the courts open to give them a call and they were indeed open. Then, I find out BJ doesn't want to go because he doesn't want to get stuck in traffic. I decide to go unrepresented to mediation considering he would not make it and he tries initially to block me from going and refuses to sign off on me going in by myself. Ultimately, after some push back his wife signs off on me going alone. The final straw was when he wanted to have me settle as an every other weekend Dad starting at 3 1/2 when we had discussed I wasn't going for anything less than the 45% parenting time I had already been exercising. Maybe he was tired of my case, had made enough money off of me, or was sick of me in general but I knew then it was time to go in a different direction. I then withdrew as a client and hired a new attorney who was amazing and won me both Joint physical and Legal custody as a dad, about 45-50% parenting time, and a reasonable child support number. As a father I couldnt be happier with this result. Too bad I couldnt do that with the 11,000+ I spent in 10 months with BJ. BJ charges about 450/hr and will charge you for about everything(which wasn't the case for me in the beginning but eventually changed). They charge .6 minutes for every email, phone call, to review your file(which he was to do to familiarize himself with your case), Intraoffice conferences(talking about your case with his staff), talking to the other attorney, and filing all the paperwork. It adds up very quickly. Divorces take at least a year in 9/10 cases and 10,000 dollars equals about 22.2 hours of work which he will certainly spend more time with your case. Find a lawyer that charges a FLAT RATE! In his defense there was some work he did that he didn't charge me for early on. The major issue I had with him was when he decided not to fight for my relationship with my daughter anymore. BJ is very busy and has a lot of clients which takes attention from your case. You can rarely get him on the phone and must come in to speak with him which obviously allows him to bill more( for the "30 min" it takes him to review your file). His office also has a fairly high turnover rate. Which means you will have to familiarize multiple people with your case. Overall I think BJ is a decent guy that wants to make a lot of money(like most of us). I just didn't feel like a priority when I look back on my time with his firm and that shows by the lack of progress with my case during that time. Take your time, research, and count the costs.

DO NOT RECOMMEND. At my initial consultation, I was told several things that after signing a contract with an expensive, NON REFUNDABLE retainer, turned out to be completely false. If you'd like an attorney that is uncommunicative to the point of utter uselessness, feel free to use this firm. So many aspects of my case were not discussed with me prior to executing and I am extremely dissatisfied with the results. Do not waste your time or money.

I sought out this legal assistance early 2015 due to my ex-spouse filing a contempt order for past payments I was not capable of funding. (My child support was extremely high and other divorce related costs all the more so.) The first reaction was to file bankruptcy, then "see what they could do." After taking retainer, and then asking for financials all of my financials, they dropped my case right before a summons date, and subsequently charged me for the "work" done! My case history was never thoroughly reviewed, and it would easily have found that I would qualify for a post-divorce modification if they took the time! Why did I have to find this out a year later on my own? I thought legal advice was to help with ways we do not know ourselves. Anyway, with loss of time and loss of significant money, I am using Avvo to find more suitable counsel. I suggest reviewing Avvo ratings and review the comments. Thank you Avvo for your service - wish I found you earlier.

I hired this firm to contest a subpoena served to me. They wrote a polite letter to the opposing counsel requesting it be withdrawn. The request was firmly denied and opposing counsel told us to do whatever we had to do. Abbott did nothing but side with the opposing counsel and send me a big fat bill. I would NEVER recommend Abbott and Abbott for anything. Moving on, I hired a new attorney who actually represented me and defended me with the law. I was an out of state resident, the plaintiff knew I lived out of state, the subpoena was improperly served, air fare was not tendered, the cost to miss work and fly back to GA would have caused undue hardship, and the subject matter requested was not relevant to the plaintiff's case. My new attorney immediately took action and filed the Motion to Quash and the Rule Nisi in my case.