Donald Morgan DuFresne

When I decided to talk with someone about filing Chapter 13 after a relationship break up, I knew I wasn't going to use a $200 bulletin board Attorney - I had a lot to lose and I needed the most knowledgeable firm I could find. Parker & DuFresne came highly recommended by a couple of friends and the...y lived up to every bit of that praise. Every action that needed to be taken in the case was either done by the firm or I was walked through every step of what was needed to be directly done by me. And, throughout the 5 years of my Chapter 13, the firm protected me, behind the scenes, numerous times; filing motions to keep my payments as initially set and Lord knows what else. The only way I knew something had occurred was when I received a letter from the Trustee letting me know that the revision was not completed based on an action by my Attorney. In addition, they were willing to speak with me about any issues that arose during the 5 year period or questions I may have had, no matter how trivial it may have seemed; and that was all part of the initial package - no extra fees. If you want someone who is going to be by your side during the entire repayment process when filing Chapter 13, Parker & DuFresne is the firm to contact.

I found this attorney through Thumbtack, he was one of the first to respond to my request. Needed an attorney to dismiss a marriage dissolution case due to a concurrent and ongoing case at a different county. He understood my request through email and had me schedule a date for free consultation. ...I traveled a little over 3 hours and waited in the area for around an hour to finally meet with him at the time and place agreed. I was told he was running a little bit late from lunch, which was fine with me. When he finally came in around 15 minutes later, I was called into the office and I walked in, he explain what he understood from my email, which was very clear, and I gave him a few more details. He then mentioned the fee to have this case dismissed would be $1,500, which, even though I understand is his work and his hours of work had to be paid for, to me the amount was a bit outrageous as that's the usual fee for an uncontested divorce, and this did seemed like a far shorter process. This is when it got a bit uncomfortable. When I told him I didn't had that much money and that I in fact just got a loan to pay for my ongoing divorce case at my county, he asked if I was expecting to pay $200 or $300 for this to be done, to which I responded I did not, but I certainly didn't expect it to be as much as a divorce case. He then mentioned it would take him 4 to 6 hours to do this and that cost money, and if I wanted I could go out search for another attorney that will do it for less but he doubted I would find any that will do it for less specially when time was running out and there were holidays in between (had only 5 more days to respond to my summons). He also mentioned I could try to make it myself, but he "wasn't even sure there was a form to fill out for that purpose" that could be provided to me at the court. I asked then what do I needed to do it myself without legal representation, his response: "about seven years of law school". Obviously offended and humiliated by his response, given that I've already had wasted my day off work and my morning traveling from so far away for a 5 minutes meeting to tell me something he could've tell me on an email or over the phone, I asked him if the address on my summons was the address of the courthouse, and he confirmed it was. Without hesitation I got out of that office and went straight to the courthouse, got oriented, got a blank motion form, drafted the motion to dismiss, had it notarized and filed it at the family clerk's office. The whole process took me less than 3 hours (I'm sure with his "knowledge" , frequent visits and contacts at the courthouse it would take him 30 minutes or less), and it all cost me $3.70 for 3 sets of copies!!! and an additional $7.00 for parking fees. So my suggestion is save your trip, save your time, save your money but most of all save the humiliation. This is definitely an attorney that won't be empathetic with your needs and seems like all he cares about is the money. People like him should not be dealing with people. To sum it all up the case was successfully dismissed, without an attorney, without law school, and at a total cost of $10.70 (copies and parking fees).