Arthur Charles Fulmer Jr.

I retained Art Fulmer for a complex divorce involving financial abuse, hidden assets, and a significant income disparity. My experience with him was deeply disappointing and, I believe, professionally negligent. Background: I was a teacher for 13 years before my spouse — a surgeon — urged me to be...come a stay-at-home parent. During the marriage, she took a $171,000 loan in my name against my pre-marital home (which had been paid off). She kept over $100,000 of the loan proceeds for herself. She also cashed out my retirement account. She then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, leaving me with the debt, no income, and three children. Failure to prepare: Despite representing me for months, my attorney did not obtain basic financial disclosure from the other side. I learned my spouse's actual income — over $420,000 — for the first time at mediation itself. That is a failure of discovery. Additionally, I arrived at mediation having received no information about mediation fees; that had to be addressed on the spot, adding to the sense that we were unprepared and reactive. Mediation conduct: At mediation, I wanted to leave early after learning the income disparity and realizing the bankruptcy narrative was falling apart. My attorney told me "sit down, we're making a deal today." He told me I was "almost out of steam," which I understood as a reference to my exhausted retainer. He even acknowledged during mediation that when a spouse files for bankruptcy, it is standard procedure to bifurcate the marriage — dissolve the marital status first and litigate financial issues separately afterward — but he explicitly said he had no interest in pursuing that path for my case. He then extended the mediation over an hour past the time I wanted to end it. Under that pressure, I signed a settlement for $15,000 — while my spouse makes over $400,000 a year and had extracted $171,000 from my property. Aftermath: When I later sent written questions by email, he responded by asking me to call him, steering the conversation off the record. It took 10 days for me to actually connect with him by phone. Only after that call did he send a written summary, and in that summary he flatly denied making statements that I personally heard him say — including the "out of steam" comment. He told me that challenging the settlement would be very hard, very expensive, and would require a new attorney — effectively telling me I was stuck. His response to opposing counsel's aggressive tactics was "I just don't like how she practices law" and "it just happens that way sometimes." He also told me he has seen cases where the other side simply outspends and out-litigates the opposition, which felt like an admission that my case was lost before it began because I couldn't afford a prolonged fight. Overall impression: He presents himself with expensive suits and a Rolex, but his representation did not match his image. He pressured me into a catastrophic settlement, failed to prepare my case, actively avoided a known legal strategy that could have protected my financial claims, steered conversations off the record when questioned, and then denied his own words. I am now living in a travel trailer with my children while my ex-spouse, who orchestrated this financial destruction, faces no consequences. I would not recommend this attorney to anyone facing a high-stakes family law matter, especially one involving financial abuse or complex assets. He will not go the distance if the other side pushes back. He will advise you to surrender and call it a win.