Rhonda S Clyatt

Rhonda was recommended to me by a coworker and at first I was happy. As the case moved on we had an emergency hearing for a 2 yr old that was taken from his home where he had always lived, and concealed from his mother for more than 1 month. Rhonda scheduled an emergency hearing and DID NOT show up f...or court! Her client was left to face the judge and opposing counsel alone! Her excuse was she showed up at the wrong courthouse in a different county. Her office staff said that was untrue and she knew exactly where the case was to be held. Needless to say the mother did not get her child back until hiring another attorney. We are currently awaiting a bill greater than 10,000$ from the same NO SHOW attorney! I would never recommend this because I would never want anyone to experience what we have!

In 2010 I was going through a very tough time and needed a divorce attorney. I had moved to Panama City, FL with my husband at the time and knew no one in the area. My banker actually recommended Ms. Clyatt. I met with her and was impressed with her forceful nature, which I thought would be beneficia...l as I needed someone to stand up for me, and retained her services. It all went downhill from there. My case was promptly turned over to her staff and I actually only saw Ms. Clyatt once more in the 2 years it took to finalize my case. Her associate, Thomas Sasser (Tommy), who I later found out was a disbarred attorney from GA provided me with all of my legal advice and conducted all of our meetings. It is against the law to have a disbarred attorney provide legal advice. Once I found out Tommy was disbarred I requested to meet with Ms. Clyatt. (The second time in the year and a half that I actually had face to face time with her) I asked her if she knew he was disbarred and she stated she did and that from then on she would handle my case. It was a constant battle as I could never get anyone on the phone and when I did I never received a clear answer as to the status of my case. I had paid a $5000 retainer which was a lot of money for me at the time. After a year and a half with no resolution the final straw was receiving a bill for more money. Very generally itemized were dates with phone conversations and meetings that were incorrect. I finally cut my losses and hired a new attorney. I called 4 different attorneys and explained my situation and the first 3 said they wouldn't take my case because Ms. Clyatt's reputation preceded her among her peers. They all knew they would be starting from square one. One actually said to me they would never put their name on work she had done because more than likely it wasn't up to par. I was lucky enough to find the 4th attorney who with another $5000 retainer accepted my case. I was divorced 6 months later. We had no children, didn't own a home or a business, we just had a basic divorce and it should never have taken a year and half. I feel that if I hadn't changed lawyers when I did, I would still not be divorced. When I went to Ms. Clyatt's office to get my paperwork I explained to her staff that I was no longer using her services. She called me about 2 weeks later and apologized and stated she would send me a refund for part of my retainer because she knew my case had been mishandled. That never happened. I have debated long and hard whether or not I should write this review. I was told by another attorney that I should file a complaint with the FL bar but honestly going through the divorce and dealing with a terrible attorney took all the wind out of my sails, so to speak. I didn't really have the energy to go through the legal process of filing a complaint. I finally decided this was a good way to get my experience out there and hopefully save someone else the time and money. Based on my experiences do not add further injury to whatever heartache you are already going through by hiring Ms. Clyatt.

I retained Ms. Clyatt to represent me in a divorce proceeding. She asked for a small retainer and made verbal assurances that I would not have to give in to the demands of the "plantiff," which included basically everything we had accumulated over 25 years of marriage plus alimony. She then proceed...ed to burn as many hours as possible and run up her fees. Along the way she convinced me to refuse several offers that would have been MUCH more beneficial to me (but not to her). I blame myself partially because I didn't hound her for regular updates on how much time she was spending. Once she'd run up a bill that equaled everything (and more) that I was to have received from the sale of the "marital home" she SUDDENLY started pushing me to settle. I ended up losing basically everything, much of it to attorney fees. My children ended up the real loser because I had to pay Ms. Clyatt the small amount of money I had for a settlement I could have negotiated myself. Divorce proceedings extended for over a year, while the final settlement was essentially the same as an offer I'd wanted to make a month into the process. She threatened to cease representing me if I insisted on making that offer and said she would "do better for me." She ended up doing better for HERSELF. If you are foolish enough to hire this woman keep a very close eye on her charges. Insist on seeing statements at least MONTHLY. When she proposes specific courses of action, ask her how much it will cost and set a limiting amount that she cannot exceed without your approval. When she threatens to "leave you high and dry at the mercy of the courts," (which she did to me), don't be afraid to walk. Finally, keep a very detailed diary of ALL your dealings with her. It will be useful when you have to file a complaint with the Florida Bar.