Stefanie Nicole Brunemann

I have hired Stefanie for my divorce case in 2015. She seemed intelligent and genuine but I noticed that she was advising me to make decisions that seemed to be in my ex wife’s favor. I continued to take her legal advice as I did not want to negatively impact the case that she was “supposedly bui...lding”. Four months later during the first court appearance, less than 10 minutes from the start time, I was surprised that she was making a deal with the opposing attorney on the amount of temporary spousal support that I have to pay and pushing me to accept a large amount for the temporary spousal support (6 months later still paying that now). She made a deal based on few minutes of exchanging information with the opposing attorney, which seemed very sketchy. I took her advice and agreed to the high monthly spousal support amount as I thought she was helping me make the best decision for my case, level of income and my wife’s income. To make things worse, when the trial started, the opposing attorney requested that I pay the income tax obligation on the spousal support and Stefanie advised me that I basically have no choice and that I needed to accept. Needless to say I accepted under tremendous pressure and the court documented the order. I called Stefanie after the court, telling her that I was not prepared for that decision and asked her to explain the rationale behind this large spousal support amount given our incomes and expenses (mine and the wife). Her response was “You make too much money” and was very defensive. She did not provide any details as to how she came to the figure. I was feeling horrible after the trial and started asking around and talked to few attorneys to get a second opinion. I found that I should have not accepted to pay the tax obligation on the temp spousal support. Also, she did not prepare me for the spousal support negotiations or even mention it was a possibility before the trial. As a result of this, I terminated Stefanie’s services I hired another attorney who used to be a divorce judge for years. I believe that she was feeling compassionate with my wife because she did not have the level of income that I have and did not have any consideration that I have two children (from my previous marriage) that I solely support. I would not hire her again. She was dominated by the opposing attorney who was also a female but had many more years of experience. The opposing attorney was aggressive and Stefanie was in a defense mode. I believe in equal everything when it comes to male/female but Stefanie seemed to be more compassionate with women.