Benjamin Thomas Hodas

Ben Hodas caused me ( a wonderful and caring mother) to lose custody of 3 of her 4 children; including a little 4 year old girl. Mr. Hodas failed to get me ready for a very important hearing in which my ex-husband placed into evidence a fabricated calendar book in which he falsely alleged that it ...was because of me that he missed hundreds of timesharing days with his children. Mr. Hodas's billing records indicate that he was given this calendar book weeks before this November 29, 2012 hearing and he charged me money for reviewing this calendar book. It was Ben Hodas's obligation to give me this calendar book prior to the hearing so I could have had a chance to rebut it and show Ben Hodas just how untruthful it was. If Mr. Hodas prepared me like he should have, then he would have seen, in evidence, that my ex-husband did not show up for hundreds of days of timesharing. For example, my ex-husband stated in his calendar book that my youngest daughter ( who was only 3 years old when that tragic hearing on November 29, 2012 too place) missed out on 181 days of timesharing . If Ben Hodas prepared me for that hearing, he would have seen, all in evidence, that this 3 year old only missed 14 days of timesharing. These numbers would have made a HUGE difference. When I said to Ben Hodas, " Why didn't you prepare me for this very important hearing that involved the lives of children?", his ludicrous response back to me was " I didn't want to waste your time going through thousands of emails as the numbers of timeshare days missed didn't matter". When I responded back to him and said " How could you say that the numbers of missed days didn't matter?". Ben Hodas then said " It only mattered if the numbers were off by a lot." I am sure you would agree that 181 days versus 14 days is considered a very significant difference. The very tragic December 12, 2012 ruling from the judge ( that came from this one hour hearing on Nov. 29, 2012) contained the very same fabricated number of missed days of timesharing from this falsified calendar book. It is horrendous that not only did Ben Hodas fail to give me this calendar book prior to this November 29, 2012 hearing but when the judge asked ( referring to this fabricated timeshare calendar book) " Has Mr. Hodas seen this?" Mr. Hodas responded with " Yes. No Objection" . Words cannot describe the anger I felt inside when Ben Hodas said that. These two words " No objection" meant to the judge that I agreed with the number of missed days in this calendar book. After going to see another attorney in West Palm Beach ( after I fired Ben Hodas), he couldn't believe how Ben Hodas said those two words " No objection". This attorney who shall remain anonymous stated " I normally don't do this but I have the name of a malpractice attorney to recommend to you." Mr . Hodas never met with me once prior to thsi November 29, 2012 hearing. We were supposed to meet 4 days prior to the hearing and when I rushed out of work to go to this meeting, Ben Hodas's secretary called me and cancelled the meeting. The only time that Ben Hodas met with me prior to this hearing was 10 minutes right before the hearing began in a little room right outside of the courtroom. He placed a copy of the motion on the table and he asked me " Have you seen this motion? They are asking for the world." My response was " If they are asking for the world, then why didn't you prepare me for the world?." Ben Hodas didn't even cross-examine my ex-husband at this hearing. Ben Hodas also made very important decisions ( decisions that were hurtful to my case) without discussing them with me first. For example, Ben Hodas would sign important agreed orders with opposing council without discussing them with me first. Ben Hodas failed to keep me informed of what was going on. Please take my advice ( especially if you have children) and do not make the same tragic mistake I did by hiring this lawyer