Simone Patricia Horn

I retained Simone Horn for the custody case of my infant daughter. Simone and I met for an initial consultation and then we had a meeting, before my daughter was born, and we talked about getting a DNA test done and filed a court order for it. Simone recommenced a lab for the test. After my child... was born, I had to call them repeatedly to find out when the test would be done. It was done weeks after the baby was born, although the court order stated it be done before the baby left the hospital. When I brought this to Simone’s attention she only said it would get done and no worries. At the second meeting we discussed a lot of things, some of which Simone said she would need to look into. I called repeatedly and left messages because the mother and I had decided to try to come to an agreement out of court, and to ask Simone about a court date that was a week away, that I only found out about, after receiving a letter. I called and talked to the receptionist several times before finally getting another appointment. The next day I got a call from the receptionist saying the appointment was cancelled and Simone had things handled. I had no idea what to expect in court, what was being handled, and what was going to be done and said on my behalf in court, or what she found out about the things she was looking into. I sent an email to her and the head of the practice giving a detailed timeline of the things that had happened. I got another appointment only to be met by Simone and the head of the practice saying I was being critical and I felt like I was being intimidated. Not a good feeling from people I paid a lot f money to, to help me with my case. At that meeting Simone told me she delayed the court date a month and that she had initially planned a meeting with the defendant and her attorney before the hearing. I don’t know how I was supposed to know this because it was never conveyed to me. The best way for me to get answers was to continually email Simone. A friend and myself are the ones that that did the work, research and wrote the agreement. Simone basically copied what we sent into a legal document and added some general custody rules. I never got the chance to discuss any of the details with her. Before court I was never really told what to expect, I only knew that me and the mother had agreed on what was written. Simone was extremely hard to get a hold of, never explained how things would or should happen in a clear way, or that I needed to get joint physical and legal custody and that there was a difference. I found that out on my own. She also told me several times I should only expect every other weekend visitation because I was a male. I never felt like she was going to fight for my rights as a father but that I should just accept. I did get joint legal and physical custody because of the agreement my friend and I drafted. The practice Simone is with is apparently closed on Fridays and there were times I couldn’t even leave a voicemail. If I go back to court again for custody I will definitely not be hiring Simone Horn or any of her associates. I was very disappointed in the way my case was handled.