Joel Brent Helder

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE HIRING THIS ATTORNEY. I hired Joel as my attorney and was forced to fire him after about 3 weeks due to incompetence. I am amazed that he has positive reviews and I relied on these reviews to hire him. Joel basically gave away my parenting time because he seemed intimidated... by my wife's attorney. He also gave me incorrect information on multiple occasions. He told me that I would not be paying child support until the divorce was final. I confirmed this with him several times and I based my moving out of the house and other financial decisions on this information. He said that support payments only begin before the divorce is final in cases of "extreme need" and my case was certainly not a case of extreme need. When he then told me a week or so later that payment would start now I was shocked. His response was "that's the way I usually do it". Unfortunately, I later learned that the law does not work this way. After all the other misinformation that I received from Joel, this was the final straw and I had to fire him and seek other counsel. I interviewed numerous attorneys in my search for a new one. Every other attorney I talked to was perplexed by, and several laughed out loud, when I told them what Joel had told me. He refused to refund my money when I asked. Knowing when support payments start seems like the most basic of basic things that a divorce attorney should know. I am still amazed that Joel has a license to practice divorce law and I am currently filing a complaint to the Michigan Bar Association. The divorce process is difficult enough without having an incompetent lawyer. I liked Joel as a person as he seems like a nice guy, but I felt it necessary to post this review as I suffered great emotional and financial pain due to his inaccurate information and would not want anyone else to go through that. Joel maybe great at signing his name in divorces that are amenable and where everyone plays nice and therefore get positive reviews but if your divorce is not amenable then you need a real divorce attorney not Joel