Dennis Hurst

In 2015, I hired Dennis Hurst to defend a referee’s recommendation regarding support. The referee’s recommendation included a small amount of support to be paid by my ex and a stipulation that he could not use alcohol while in the presence of the two minor children involved. My ex objected to the ref...eree’s recommended order and requested for my income to impute at an astronomical amount that I’ve never made and for the alcohol stipulation to be removed. Through, what I was thought to believe was my “representation” we filed an answer requesting for their objections to be thrown out because there was documented police reports and CPS reports showing that my ex’s home is violent, I’ve never made that much money, and they filed their objections on the 22nd day (1 day past the 21 day deadline). In closing, at the hearing, my attorney, Dennis Hurst didn’t base his statement off of what we had filed and agreed to, but said that my ex “did deserve a de novo hearing”. I honestly believe that it should have been an open and shut case and would have been if my attorney didn’t end with that closing comment. Another hearing was scheduled. When I expressed my surprise at what he had said while we were walking out Mr. Hurst told me that he did that for a reason and because my ex was “the most difficult person he had ever dealt with” he was going to give me ½ off for the next hearing ($750). Red flags went up but I felt as if I was between a “rock and a hard place”. Mr. Hurst then gave me a gigantic list of things to get ready for the hearing; things like average wage and salary information, finding out what the FOC used, and even delivering exhibits to my ex’s attorney. Mr. Hurst had me omit things that I really thought were relevant to my case as well. The judge did not end up making a decision at the hearing. A few weeks later, I asked Mr. Hurst if he had heard anything, he told me that the judge must not have gotten to it yet. This went on for over 3 months before I finally called the courthouse myself. That is when the courthouse informed me that the paperwork accidentally got put away and that the judge didn’t even have it on his list of things to do. In the long run, my-ex got his alcohol stipulation removed and my income imputed at a number that he pulled out of the sky. I did end up firing Mr. Hurst. In the interim, I filed my own objections and at one of the hearings, Mr. Hurst approached my ex’s attorney right in front of me and said, “hey, (unmentioned name) did you get the client I sent you yesterday? I really feel as if Mr. Hurst always had his own agenda and what was best for him and his business at heart. I don’t believe that Mr. Hurst did one thing that helped me on my case and feel as if I paid him for extra counsel for my ex. Also, I did file a grievance with the Attorney Grievance Commission and when Mr. Hurst sent his response, he of course mentioned the stuff he really did but also took credit for work that I had performed. The commission did not find that he did anything wrong.