Christopher Michael Howell

I had Mr. Howell as my representative for about 16-18 months, which started in the Summer of 2012. My divorce was completed in another state by my ex-wife. So, all I needed him for was to sell our out of state marital home and to divide the money from the sell. These to tasks took about 18 months to ...complete. Mr. Howell told me that it shouldn't take this long and that he did not understand why. During our conversations, he was pointing a lot the blame on the opposing attorney and Judge Ben Fuller. In short, he was spending a lot of time working my case. Whatever he filed, it was either delayed or rejected by the judge. The opposing attorney was also filing for numerous extension or motions and the judge was approving all of them. Once, I realized that my case was taking longer than usual, I started to ask Mr. Howell how much my current bill was. He responded to my first inquiry, because the amount was still relatively low. The bill amount was around $5000 and he was my lawyer for about 5-6 months. As time elapsed and my case wasn't moving anywhere forward, I inquired again as to how much my bill was. He responded within about 2-3 weeks apologizing for the delayed response. This time the amount was between $8500-$9500 and he has been my lawyer for about a year by now. The third time I asked for my bill amount, he initially did not respond to me. I got tired of waiting, so I decided to go to his office to make a payment and to get an update on my billing. I finally received an office letter head detailing what I was being charged. But, there was never a total amount listed at the bottom of the receipt. It was left blanked. I asked his legal assistant as to how much it was and she said she didn't know. So, I told her to have Mr. Howell send me an updated bill. It took a long time for me to receive the bill update, which was now over $10,000. Once my bill went over $10,000, I never got a total amount I owed on the payment receipt when I made a payment. I kept on asking how much I owed and the more he didn't respond to my emails and phones messages I left with his assistant. This went on until the closure of my case. In court, he stated that my his fees were $15,000 and the judge asked me if the amount correct. I said yes it was. Shortly after the trial, I received Mr. Howell's final bill and to my surprise it was a lot more than he submitted as evidence in court. It was for $18,330. Judge Fuller ordered my ex-wife pay for half of the $15,000 attorneys fees I incurred. I paid Mr. Howell $1200 for court preparation fees, and he couldn't generate the correct final bill amount of $18,330 for the court. I've asked him to lower the bill to $15,000, which was the amount he told the court. But, he refused to do so. Now, I believe I have no way to recover half of the $3,300 didn't tell the court of. I lost a lot of money just trying to sell our marital home and Mr. Howell's billing practice made it feel a lot worse. I hope no one else experiences what I went through with Mr. Howell.