Mitchell John Dean

Mitchell Dean was the associate attorney who worked on my case after I hired Brad Kaye at Merel Family Law and fired my previous law firm due to incompetence, a conflict of interest because the partner representing me, I later learned, was best friends since childhood with the police chief of the vil...lage where I lived during the marriage. Consequently when there were issues with the police department that robbed me of my legal rights (the cops even brought it fraudulent court order with them on the day of my move, depriving me of my rightful belongings as determined by court order,) and sat in their squad cars eating donuts or something watching my x verbally abuse, threaten, stalk, and corner me along with his flying monkey daughter. My son-in-law had to physically protect me whenever we were out of sight of the police while the x and his daughter terrorized me and blocked access to areas of the house where my belongings were. One incident happened outside in the front of the house, after I had to lock myself in my car in fear for my safety. The x came charging towards my car with two squad cars with officers in them parked right in front of my car. It was my 90 pound daughter who approached the 250 pound x and warned him off me while the cops never budged from their vehicles. After the nightmare of that, the attorney didn't believe me and did nothing to make sure I was able to get my remaining rightful belongings. His friendship with the police chief was a clear conflict of interest that compromised the quality of my representation. The last attorney there who my case was shifted to was even worse than his father, the first attorney of the three. By this time my trial had already been moved to the trial judge. There was hemorrhaging of marital assets that was obvious in the x's financial disclosures. It was alarming and yet that last attorney's response to my concern about the dissipation was telling me as he had regarding other important matters, that there was nothing he could do about the dissipation because "it would just delay settling the case". I had been trying to find another attorney for several months, but nobody wanted to take the case. Finally two attorneys from 2 different firms who wouldn't take the case, recommended Brad Kaye. I immediately contacted him and he was willing to take it on. Brad and Mitch believed me. They immediately went to work to get things back on track. Mitch painstakingly went through the x's financials and found the dissipation in larger and less significant individual transactions. His attention to detail was stellar. A claim was filed in court and the judge ruled in my favor, approving the dissipation claim. Not only did that protect me financially, it also led to the x stopping the overspending, further protecting my financial situation. I found Mitch to be very responsive. He kept me informed throughout. He is a compassionate, empathetic human being and had a steady, reassuring manner during a time when I really needed to feel supported, believed, and understood. Together he and Brad successfully settled the divorce and kept the communication with the OC going in spite of her lack of responsiveness, pushing to bring my ridiculous divorce to the end, avoiding trial and saving me tens of thousands of dollars. Brad and Mitch made sense of nonsense and truly had my back. Making the change in legal representation was the best decision I made during this extremely difficult time in my life aside from the decision to divorce my tormenter. I'm so grateful for everything they did for me.

I could not be happier with my experience working with Mitch. I had a terrible experience with my first lawyer that I hired for my divorce. Everything was going in my ex's favor mainly due to poor communication between myself and my lawyer. I luckily made the switch Jonathan Merel's office just in ti...me. I wish I worked with them from the beginning, but they did an excellent job of turning things around for me. Mitch was a big part of this with his expert knowledge and guidance. He was always there to answer my questions and help advise me on how to speed up the divorce process while achieving a desirable outcome. I highly recommend Mitch to anyone that needs excellent representation during the divorce process.

Mitchell's professional and legal representation for my case was extremely helpful. He is knowledgable, patient, direct, clear, and honest. He was prompt in all communications and always answered any of the questions I had. Overall Mitchell provided exceptional support and guidance and I am happy w...ith the final results.