Jeffrey Howard Skatoff

I hired Mr. Skatoff, specifically, and expected he would be handling my probate case, but, in fact, he handed off my case first, to another lawyer in the office, who dragged his heels for about a year-delaying filing pertinent documents in a timely manner, did not address vital issues in my case, de...spite my numerous requests to do so , and running up my bill. I finally got fed up and registered a strong complaint, which resulted in that person being taken off my case. At that time Mr. Skatoff assigned another associate to the case. By that time, my case had been so badly mishandled, I had incurred over $100,000.00 in attorney's fees, and endured 2 years of major stress from lack of action on different issues I specifically requested pertaining to my case. Another major issue was mishandled due to lack of knowledge of the specific law about it by the two attorneys Mr. Skatoff assigned, which resulted in wasted time, more hours billed, and failure to get the problem resolved. I was strongly advised by the second attorney to go for a settlement and put an end to the battle. I went into the settlement meeting with the second attorney, who persuaded me to accept a bad settlement deal. I came out of this having spent an enormous amount of money, which was minimally recouped, a few paltry items that belonged to my step-father, and nothing from my mother, who predeceased him. When I hired Mr. Skatoff, I asked him to retrieve my stepfather's original will from a safe deposit box as soon as possible. This was not acted upon in a timely manner, and I was never able to retrieve the will, which severely damaged my case, and, in fact, resulted in a new will being crafted by outside parties, who used undue influence with my stepfather, after he was adjudicated as incompetent. The new will became the will of record because the original will stayed locked in the safe deposit box. I believe Mr. Skatoff mishandled this case from the beginning, costing me well over $100,000.00, years of extreme stress and frustration from lack of cooperation by the lawyers who were supposed to fight for me, and ultimately losing the rights of family to receive inheritances my step-father allocated for them, and none of the personal items, that while, not monetarily worth anything, are treasured mementos of our step-father and our mother.

I have a complex family estate and trust situation full of family acrimony. I sought counsel with Mr Skatoff after visiting with many other lawyers and being well versed in commecial and professional litigation. Mr. Skatoff is heads and shoulders above his peers. He has the utmost compassion, prof...essionalism, insight and ability to sought through the complexities with surgical precision. He is no doubt one of the brightest attorneys I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and potentially the smartest. It is with great pleasure that I fully endorse Mr. Skatoff without any reservation but rather many accolades.

Jeff handled a dispute involving a Trust that I was beneficiary of and upon receiving and taking over my case, he quickly and successfully got me all that I was entitled to receive even though the trustee claimed that no additional distributions could be made due to a "alledged" tax liability. He als...o made sure the Trustee produced all the necessary Accountings before we mediated. I was very satisfied and would advise any who have disputes regarding a Trust to retain him as legal representation!