Candace Melissa Williams

I hired Candace and her team In April 2020. I was going through a divorce from my abusive husband who wasn’t just abusive toward me, but to my 4 children as well. My children have special needs ranging from very high functioning to severe nonverbal autism. I had an attorney at the time that wasn’t ve...ry passionate about my case. One night as I was getting my son to sleep I googled divorce attorney’s in Gainesville, Ga that handled domestic violence and Candice was the first attorney to come up. I read her website and she passionately described her feelings for domestic violence victims and for children. I knew I needed her to fight for my kids and I. I called the next morning and was very shocked that Candace spoke to me right away after her assistant told her my story. She instructed me on what to say in the email to my lawyer to release her as my attorney. From that moment on Candace and her team became family to my children and I. That was a pivotal moment when I knew Candace deeply cared about my kids and I. I was relaxing from a long day at work and after getting my son to sleep when I got an alert that I had an email. It was from Candace and she was expressing how heart breaking the messages and voicemails from my oldest daughter to me about the abuse she received from her father were. She was working on my case at 11 at night all while being a single mom herself! I knew then she truly cared about my family. Candace handled the extension of the TPO against my husband while we continued sorting out the details of the divorce. Candace and her team were always very responsive to me and always in a timely manner. Candace was like a mother; loving, yet firm when I needed her to be! Candace and her team were with me during one of the most traumatic times of my life; the death of both my parents within 2 months of each other. My husband was trying to have a hearing while I was by my dying mom’s side. His lawyer and him didn’t want to postpone it, but Candace got it postponed. When we finally had the hearing it was by zoom and I was very nervous about seeing my husband even on the computer. Thankfully it was arranged that he was on Candace’s computer, but not mine. Before the hearing Candace calmed my nerves and the whole team made me feel so comfortable. I felt like I had known each of them for years. We hired a GAL that day and I was worried how I would pay him when the money I had saved was to pay Candace with. Candace got down to my level and said: “Jennifer, you pay him what you have saved and I’ll work with you on my payment.” She has kept her word about working with me on her payment too! She even came with me to meet the GAL. Candace was very loving toward my children when she met them. Candace is a bulldog and I would never want to be on the other side of her. My divorce just became final this past week and I received sole physical and sole legal custody with no visitation for my ex-husband as well as a permanent TPO for the kids and I. I also received the car and my ex-husband signed a quit claim deed for the house. Each case is different and what I received of course doesn’t mean that will be the case for every one that Candace represents, but one things for sure she will fight for you and give your case her all! I was actually saddened to have my case come to an end, because Candace and her team became family to my children and I. You will have no regrets hiring Candace and her team!

Hired in November of 2020. Her work is riddled with mistakes and oversights, so prepare to spend many hours proof reading her work. Does not advocate for client and will put her vacation ahead of your case, refusing to submit an allowed rebuttal because "I think the judge already is made up h...is mind." Incredibly rude over email and her poor reading comprehension means you'll often be asking the same question many times before receiving anything that resembles an answer to it. No understanding of basic facts of the case, no matter how many times things are communicated (will mix up family relations, witness names, addresses, timelines). Will fail to submit important evidence to the court that was provided to and available to her since before your first response to discovery, leading to it not being able to be entered and costing you thousands of dollars on top of what you are already paying her. If your hearing is over Zoom/Teams, be prepared to watch her incompetently attempt to rotate a PDF while skipping over all relevant parts. Will print and rescan documents you provided electronically, with the pages in disarray, wasting everyone's time before giving up and ignoring the point of the document. Wasted a great deal of time in the hearings by failing to understand how screen-sharing worked and was constantly stopping and starting screen sharing, while leaving her file explorer open and visible to all present, showing dates that the evidentiary documents were last edited which got them deemed inadmissible as evidence due to it showing as edited since the first hearing. Either does not listen or does not remember simple instructions such as that Facebook conversations export so that the conversation reads bottom to top. Will have the audacity to talk about how "proud" and "satisfied" she is with the result of your case, despite you coming out of it owing money to your spouse and being left unable to pay bills. On the topic of bills, you can look forward to your final attorney invoice coming less than a week before your first court ordered payments to your spouse. Invoices from Candace do not come on any particular schedule, they are due immediately and arrive sporadically and without any particular pattern. During the hearing Candace loudly whispered with her paralegal on an open microphone, leading to a complaint from the opposing council and making us both look unprofessional. Utterly embarrassing and incompetent. You would struggle to find a less effective Attorney.

Wish I had gone with Candace the first time around. The first time around, I chose an attorney based primarily on cost. If I had further explored Ms. William's firm, I would have learned that the firm will often work with you to make their representation a reality. I had to return to court a year ...after my original divorce to settle unresolved issues not accounted for in the original decree. It would have been more cost effective in the long run to hire her from the beginning. She is professional and well-spoken, the epitome of a perfect litigator. She truly cares about children and has been an excellent child advocate. I would highly recommend her to anyone facing a child custody battle or needing a top-notch litigator. She truly shines in the courtroom. I wish that I could keep her on retainer forever!