Deanna Lynn Whitley

I am a transgender man who had lost all faith in the judicial system when I lost my daughter to the biological mother. The first lawyer I hired failed to prove a retroactive common law (same-sex) marriage existed. Thus, I lost all hope of ever seeing my daughter again. Everyone I turned to for advice... would tell me it was a time-sensitive matter and impossible to prove. I surely believed my world would end without ever having any rights to see my daughter. Just then, a good friend told me to seek out The Whitley Law Firm. As soon as I heard the voice answer on the other end of the line, I felt a sense of relief at how they asked questions that I had never been asked before. The reassuring and the thoroughness gave me the desire to fight full blast. Ms. Whitley sat with me and told me with such confidence that she was going to reunite me with my baby girl. After speaking with more of the law team members, I was very confident about just sitting back and letting them do their job. I have and continue to be treated with respect and my questions are always answered. The paralegal assigned to my case was always immediately available to assist me and I felt like a part of the family. Ms. Whitley went into court and fought for me with experience, knowledge, wit, facts and a lot of determination to win my case for me in order to reunite me with my daughter estranged from me for over a year. There are no words to fully thank and describe what this win has done for my daughter and I.

When I made the decision to divorce my ex-wife I knew I'd need a child custody lawyer because my children were my priority. Yes, I could have searched for just a Divorce Lawyer but I knew my ex would fight me tooth and nail to leave the state in order to separate me from them. I needed a child custod...y lawyer who would fight for a father wanting to be equally in his children’s lives. I reached out to several lawyers leaving messages and that’s when a member of Ms. Whitley’s team called me. She easily convinced me to meet with her boss and after the initial sit down I knew Ms. Whitley was the right choice for my life changing event. I explained to Ms. Whitley exactly what I wanted because I had thought the whole process through for quite a while. I just wanted equal rights to my children and she whole heartedly agreed that I deserved exactly that. That being said, divorce isn’t easy and mine was no walk in the park. My ex fought with me as I expected and almost left the state, but Ms. Whitley quickly helped me file the initial paperwork preventing me from losing my children for good. My divorce took place a few months after our initial court filing but my ex drug the whole process out for months on end sending us back to court over and over again. However, Ms. Whitley, her associate and team stood by me through the whole process and I can finally say it’s over. It took time and took money, that’s how divorce works….. But I received exactly what I expected and what I wanted….I have my children 50/50. Thank you Whitley Law Firm.

My case was extremely unique and complicated. A lawyer prior to Ms. Whitley rushed me off the phone not even allowing me to fully explain my case, stating that it was way too complicated for him to even get into. That same day I called The Whitley Law Firm, P.C. and spoke with them about my case, my ...information was taken down and given to Cait. Cait listened, calmed me and assured me that my case could and would be handled. She also shared a story which made me feel that I wasn’t alone and that I could trust Ms. Whitley and her team. I’m a Christian, and prayed hard for God to lead me to an attorney that would know the law, not take advantage of me, and help me get through this battle and win. He led me to this Firm. Once forwarded to Ms. Whitley, she called and was just as calming and assuring as Cait; she listened to me, brought comfort to me at such a traumatic time and quickly jumped into action on my case. Throughout the entire ordeal she was polite, respectful, honest and trustworthy, not only to me but to my family. Ms. Whitley knows the law, she is thorough, tough and though small, she is mighty! Being in court four times (because of the many games my ex-husbands lawyers played) we walked away with a WIN every time. Ms. Whitley ended up getting my son back to me quickly, was able to get all the crazy attempts made by my ex-husband and his lawyer thrown out, getting me a settlement of documented primary custody of my son, everything in my favor and getting my child support in the works to be fixed and put back under FL jurisdiction. I am very happy and thankful for her services. If you’re lost, overwhelmed, scared, confused and don’t know what to do. Trust in The Whitley Law Firm, and let her fight your battle; No matter how complicated, call. Last but not least anything worth it is not cheap, they are extremely worth it and will work with you, just call. (I reiterate call, because being in that situation, seeing CALL would be the push I needed.) The quick background to my complicated case: My son and I live in FL and have since he was 18 months old, as a family with his father up until he was four. The father of my son currently lives in TX. My son had long distance summer visitations with his father yearly. The father of my son decided (because TX was suing him for back child support) to withhold him, and stated he was not sending him back to FL. Trying to say that he was the primary parent and that he decides the residence of my son. The previous Divorce Decree was fraudulently gained in TX, although the father lived married in FL, although there was a FL support order (that his decree changed the amount cutting the support order in half and giving TX power over the support order-which is illegal), and although my son had always lived with me and he himself put the child would continue to live with me in the decree; this case should have never left FL. He placed in small print in the back of the decree that he decides my son’s residence, which in TX gives him "Primary" custody. Primary wouldn’t be granted to a person that has never had the child full time, a person that PAYS child support, and a person that receives long distance visitation of summers only. In a nutshell my case should have never been pulled to TX, yet it was and the decree was signed by a TX judge without me present 2013, this decree had many fraudulent levels and the DOA informed me that I really needed a lawyer to fix the discrepancies, now 2015-2016. The father of my son had also remarried, therefore throwing out the old decree would have caused more complications. All in all my ex-husband had a group of fraudulent lawyers that were wolves, that didn't know the law, and wanted to avoid the real problem of them committing fraud between two jurisdictions, in addition to lying under oath and fooling a judge into signing a fraudulent decree. The entire story will need a book to explain. Ms. Whitley and her team really took care of me and we won!

I had consulted with nearly a dozen attorneys over a 4 day period. All of whom told me that my situation was "hopeless" and basically a "losing battle." However, they were all very willing to accept my retainer to represent me?! I called attorney Whitley's office and had spoken with Kate over the pho...ne the day before meeting with attorney Whitley. I told her I was ready to just give up, since every attorney I'd spoken with to this point was telling me to basically do just that. She encouraged me and gave me the first piece of good advice that I'd heard in 4 days. I was to meet with Mrs. Whitley the next day and almost didn't go, as I'd met with 3 attorneys earlier that day who did nothing but discourage me. I figured what was Mrs. Whitley going to tell that was different? Plus, a huge storm was hitting the area. But I remembered how gracious Kate was to me over the phone the day before, so I turned the car around & met with Mrs. Whitley. She reviewed my documents & asked me why I was so downtrodden? I told her what the other attorneys had said to me, and she actually took the time to go over my documents with me and cross referenced her explanation with actual law books to backup her explanation. She showed me that on the surface it may've looked bad, but she showed me, using the actual law, that I had a very strong case! At this point I had my first glimmer of hope. She also went on to tell me the following: "Your current attorney has put together a very strong case for you, and in my professional opinion, I think you should let him see it through. I feel it would be unethical for me to jump into your case right in the middle. If things go well for you in court next week, thank your attorney & continue with him. If things do not go the way you wanted and you feel like you still want to make a change, then I would be happy to represent you." I cannot begin to express how rare, odd and completely unheard of, this kind of honesty was to hear! Especially since I'd spoken with nearly a dozen lawyers before Mrs. Whitley! Attorney Whitley gave me a quick outline of how she would approach my case & told me not to lose hope, because I was fighting the "good fight!" Mrs. Whitley treated me like a human being who had been going through a very difficult time. We never even discussed a retainer! Kate called me the following week just to check on me and to see how things went in court? I went to court the following week & things did in fact go well. It's not over yet, but I will be contacting attorney Whitley to represent me in the next leg of my proceeding. And I will do this for the simple fact that she & her office staff showed me grace, honesty, ethics, caring and humanity.