Michael Kevin Rathel

When I was seeking help with my case, I was looking for an attorney that would help me every step of the way and give me advice. After all, the reason I needed help was so emotionally draining and intense, the reason you hire an attorney is to take as much of the weight off your shoulders as possibl...e right? All clients want to feel that their lawyers understand their interests, priorities, concerns and hopes. It really does not take much to engage around these issues or to explore, encourage, facilitate and develop ideas through conversation, by listening and validating your interpretation. Michael Rathel or should I call him Harry Houdini should be absolutely ashamed of his performance as an "attorney." To give him the title "attorney" should be an insult to the attorneys that actually care about their clients and give them the time of day. Rathel was paid and then quickly disappeared. I made the mistake of putting trust in the hands of someone I needed to be there during such an awful experience and he couldn't do the simplest of things, pick up the phone and ACT like he cared about my case. If you want to pay someone to do a disappearing act, this is your guy! If you want someone who you can trust, confide in, and that will be there every step of the way, I'm sure there are many other attorneys that are much more deserving of your hard earned money than this thief.

THIS WAS THE WORST EXPERIENCE I HAVE EVER HAD WITH A LAWYER IN MY LIFE. I WENT INTO HIS OFFICE THE DAY AFTER MY EX-WIFE TOOK OUR SON AND RAN TO GA. I EXPLAINED TO RATHEL THAT THERE IS NO PROPERTY TO DIVIDE THE ONLY THING WE WOULD DISAGREE ON IS OUR 3 YR OLD SON. RATHEL TOLD ME NOT WORRY HE COULD HELP... ME. HE TOLD ME THAT IT WOULD BE $2500 TO RETAIN HIM. ONCE I PAID THE $2500 AND AFTER OUR FIRST HEARING THAT HE DID NOT EVEN ATTEND (SENT AN ASSOCIATE) HE CALLS ME AND SAYS I NEED YOU TO COME TO MY OFFICE WHEN I ARRIVE HE TELLS ME I DID NOT REALIZE THIS A CONTESTED DIVORCE IT WILL BE ANOTHER $2500. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT I DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO PAY HIM OR FIND AN HONEST LAWYER I WISH I HAD GOTTEN A NEW LAWYER I PAID THE ADDITIONAL $2500 AND STILL GOT SCREWD. HE WITHDREW FROM MY CASE LEAVING ME TO ATTEND THE MEDIATION BY MYSELF AND THEN I FOUND OUT THAT I HAD TO PAY CHILD SUPPORT AND BACK CHILD SUPPORT ALL THO WE HAD 50/50 PARENTING PALN AND I HAD TO PAY HER LAWYER. AVOID RATHEL AT ALL COST.

I used Michael Rathel as my divorce attorney as his fees were slightly less for uncontested divorces ($2500). He ill advised me on multiple occasions on what should be done after I told him I trusted him to make the right decisions. He later would say well you told me to handle it that way. He stated... on multiple occasions he was going to drop by my case unless I paid the additional $2500 for contested divorce when the divorce was still uncontested! Stay clear of this attorney! Do yourself a favor and hire an attorney that has some knowlege of divorce cases...

I would NOT recommend this attorney. He accused me of divorcing my ex because he was unemployed in our first meeting. (That should have been my first clue.) His office did not return calls. They failed to require my ex to disclose all financials and did not fact check leaving me vunerable. Misfiled p...aperwork and allowed the other party's attorney to run roughshod all over me. Did not prepare me for our court hearing and was not prepared. I was forced to get advice from another attorney.Failed to get due dates for the other side to comply with court orders and did not even provide me with a court-stamped certified copy of my divorce decree. He's a kiss-up and a bad one at that. A waste of 5k.

Had a misdemeanor case that i was inocent of. now i do have a past but never been in jail or anything. so i hire rathel for 2500 for $140 theift case. other than the first day i saw him never heard from him at all went to pretrial and he never showed up sent some guy i never seen before. the new atty... tells me just take the deal or spend time in jail. not we can fight this or anything. dont give this guy your money.