G. David Heiman

I hired David Heiman for my divorce simply because his rates are fairly inexpensive, but I got what I paid for. A simple, agreed divorce with no kids, no property, and no debt turned into four months of just trying to get this guy to file the one simple petition in my case to handle everything. It to...ok my now ex-wife finally calling him to give him a piece of her mind about his work ethic to light a fire under him. A word of advise, do not hire this guy. He was very rude to me throughout the entire (drawn out on his end) process, and acted as though he was better than me. Also, I did some research on him after the fact, and he has been diciplined several times by the State of Texas for his professional actions.

I've never met anyone as unprofessional and irresponsible as Mr. Heiman. I hired him because "I wanted results, not a fight", as his website states. The opposite is true. It was a fight to get him to do any kind of work on my case, and also a fight just to get him to respond to emails or phone calls ...about my case. Granted, I'm not someone that calls every week wanting a status update, but once every SIX MONTHS would be nice. Mr. Heiman was completely unprepared for my final divorce hearing. I tried contacting him for the three months prior to the court date to find out if he needed any information at all from me, with no response, and he finally called me (frantic) two days beforehand and insisted that I take off work and rearrange my schedule to come in the day before my trial. When I got there, he wanted extremely accurate financial information, like all bank account numbers, balances, student loan balances, mortgage information, blue book values of cars, my boat, my watch, etc. Sensing that I was frustrated with his failure to let me know that I would need any of this, he offered to let me use a computer in his tiny office. He offered to help look up blue book values if he could bill me hourly for it. I agreed, but saw that he was on facebook instead of looking things up. Oh, and the Judge informed me that the document Mr. Heiman was trying to prepare should have been filed over a year ago. I thought the nightmare was over after the final hearing, but the worst was yet to come. He filed something called a “QDRO”, which divides my retirement, without letting me review it first. My wife, whom I had been married for two years, received half of my 20+ year retirement account (PERMANENTLY) . Fortunantly, my ex wife is reasonable and is allowing me to fix it, although she didn’t have to. The real kicker is, David Heiman told me that he wouldn’t charge his entire $10,000 charge to appeal the case that soley messed up, be would only charge me $5,000. What a joke! I have the feeling the fiasco isn’t over. Please do not even consult with this guy!

I heard about collaborative law and did some research and found David Heiman. I read about him and the collaboration process and he sounded great. I had an initial consultation and everything went fine. I discussed mediation because that is what I wanted -- no court trial! Well, a couple of days lat...er, I received a call from his paralegal who said she would be handling everything for me. I assumed she knew what she was doing -- WRONG! I met with her and we went over the mediation process, got all the paperwork in order and she said she would call when she had a date set for mediation. Well, we finally got a date and the night before we were to be at the courthouse, she called me and said "it's been cancelled". I said "what do you mean, it's been cancelled?" She said well we haven't heard from the other side and they're not answering my calls or emails and there is still paperwork I am waiting on from them". I had scheduled my work hours to have that day off so I went on into work. My ex calls me and says "where are you"? We're here at the courthouse waiting for you!" He was very upset and accused me of thumbing my nose at the mediator and the courts! I told him I was informed by the paralegal that the mediation had been cancelled. I cannot write here the expletives he used to me about my lawyer, but it was BAD. I called the paralegal and she acted so nonchalant as if it was no big deal! OMG, I couldn't believe it (by the way, that paralegal was fired and is no longer with him). I tried to communicate with Mr. Heiman but he would not answer my phone calls or emails. The next thing I know, I'm getting served with a "contempt of court" citation along with Mr. Heiman. Long story short, I could not afford another attorney so I tried to muddle along by myself. End result, my ex and his lawyer wrote up the divorce decree and because my ex had kept my children from me for so long (even moving them out of town), on a visit to see my daughter's kindergarten graduation,I saw my 8 year old son and he came and jumped in my arms and he was crying so hard and saying how much he missed me and I knew I had to sign the papers so I could see them! (I know, BIGGEST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE!) Oh how I wish I had a caring lawyer with some integrity who would have explained this decree to me, but, I did not and I am now suffering because of Mr. HEIMAN. I lost my children and I have to pay child support and oh yeah, just discovered there is no standard visitation in my decree! My ex was going to give me 9 extra days this summer but he started arguing with me via text messages and didn't like something I said, so he said "forget it, you don't get any summer visitation"! I am at his mercy and every day of my life has been a living hell. I WANT TO SEE MY CHILDREN! So far, I got to see them 2 days in June and I get 4 days in July and 4 days in August and that's it! I am just trying to figure out what I can do about this because THIS NEVER SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED THIS WAY! I'm determined to fight this and I'm not giving up! I know there is a lawyer out there somewhere who can help me -- I just have to find them! My advice to anyone thinking of hiring David Heiman --- PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, DON'T DO IT!

Here is some advice from a former client--if you are thinking of retaining David Heiman, DON'T! Months have gone by without as much as a phone call from him, he leaves it to his paralegal to do, literally, all of his work. When I finally showed up at his office and confronted him, he didn't even know... who I was! The previous reviews of his arrogance are dead on, and he does become hostile when asked questions. He also still owes me money and will not return calls or emails about this.