Arthur Charles Fulmer Jr.

I retained Art Fulmer for a complex divorce involving financial abuse, hidden assets, and a significant income disparity. My experience was deeply disappointing and professionally negligent. Background: I was a teacher for 13 years before my spouse—a surgeon—urged me to become a stay-at-home paren...t. During the marriage, she took a $171,000 loan in my name against my pre-marital home and kept most of it. She also cashed out my retirement, then filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, leaving me with debt, no income, and three children. Failure to prepare: Despite months of representation, my attorney did not obtain financial disclosure from the other side. I learned my spouse's income—over $420,000—for the first time at mediation. That is a failure of discovery. I also arrived without knowing mediation fees, which showed we were unprepared. Mediation conduct: I wanted to leave early after learning the income disparity. My attorney said "sit down, we're making a deal today" and "you're almost out of steam"—a reference to my exhausted retainer. He acknowledged bifurcation was standard when a spouse files bankruptcy, but said he had no interest in pursuing it. He extended mediation past when I wanted to end it. Under that pressure, I signed for $15,000—while my spouse makes over $400,000 and had extracted $171,000 from my property. Aftermath: When I sent written questions, he told me to call him, steering it off the record. It took 10 days to reach him. Only after that call did he send a summary—and flatly denied statements I heard, including "out of steam." He said challenging the settlement would be very hard, very expensive, and require a new attorney. His response to opposing counsel's tactics was "I just don't like how she practices law" and "it just happens that way sometimes." He also said the other side can outspend and out-litigate, which felt like an admission he never intended to 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, avoided a known legal strategy, steered conversations off the record, and denied his own words. I now live in a travel trailer with my children while my ex-spouse faces no consequences. I would not recommend him for any high-stakes family law matter, especially involving financial abuse or complex assets. After I posted this review, Mr. Fulmer demanded I remove it, calling it "materially false and defamatory." I have not removed it because it is truthful. His response to honest criticism was a legal threat. He delayed my client file, claiming it was too big to email. Then his office sent a 91 MB file electronically—but that was only the other side's disclosure, not my client file. So the excuse was false, but he still didn't give me the actual file. Update: I learned from opposing counsel's filing that Mr. Fulmer filed a motion to withdraw and continue without notifying me.