Rhonda S Clyatt

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.