James Michael Clay

As a former military member, my custody and support challenges were complicated by short notice moves and an ex spouse who had long term anxiety and anger management issues. I had been forced to negotiate child support much lower than guidelines in order to move with my children and report to my new... duty station on time. When my former spouse then also moved to a Texas few attorneys were even willing to work with me to try to figure out how to modify child support across three different states, and 5 years after I had agreed to compromise guideline support. In the meantime I was not only supporting 4 kids on my own, but was also giving my ex a significant portion of my military retirement check. I tried to work a modification through my own state's child support enforcement agency, and then the Texas Attorney General's office - both to no avail. (My ex refused to respond to their inquiries and they dropped the case saying there was nothing more they could do). I then had a friend who suggested her brother in law could give me advice. It took him 9 months to give me "advice" that I had already found online, and a surprise bill for $8000 (we never had any contract) which he "generously reduced to $2000" - and still nothing had been filed with the courts. When I found Mr Clay online I thought this was just one more attempt. Within two weeks of our initial conversation, he had filed a request for modification, and set a temporary orders hearing. It did take 5 months and two trips to Texas for me, but he managed to get the court to bring support up to the standard guidelines. He always responded to my inquiries VERY quickly, and never more than 24 hours later. He was more concerned with succeeding in my case than in earning a huge fee, and actually reduced his own fee in order to facilitate the final settlement. He was well regarded in the courtroom (by judges and staff alike) and always treated everyone (even my ex) with respect. Very competent and very professional for this sort of case!