Shanna Lee Valentine

Being new to the area, we turned to a local friend to recommend an attorney for some family matters. Her choice: The Valentine Law Firm! We’ve now worked with Shanna and Moni on several projects and are greatly pleased with the results. Their professionalism and expertise are enhanced by their respon...siveness, empathy and initiative. They exemplify that friendly Texan helpfulness we’ve come to count on and appreciate. Many thanks again to Shanna and her lovely team!

I see Mrs. Valentine no longer practices family law, but she was my family law attorney at the time. I sincerely think Mrs. Valentine wanted to help me, but in the end, she failed and abandoned me when I needed her most. She was very understanding in the beginning as she agreed to support my goals.... I explained that while I understood I couldn't stop my divorce, I didn't want it and wanted to do everything I could to maximize the possibility of reconciliation, so I wasn't going to do anything to encourage it. She seemed to respect and understand where I was coming from and was willing to work with me. She also understood that I had already hired an attorney who had exhausted all of my retainer from my temporary hearing and I was still paying off my balance with them, so I couldn't afford another retainer. She agreed to work with me on an hourly basis instead of requiring a prepaid retainer. During that time, she was helpful answering questions, explaining how to file documents and prepare for hearings. However, when it came time for my final hearing, she indicated I finally need to pay a retainer, to which I reluctantly agreed to because I didn't really have the money. I even asked her if she could take it out of the trust from the settlement in my final hearing so that I could still afford to pay my living expenses. She declined, however, I managed to come up with the retainer the last day of her deadline. I was literally on my way to her office when she told me she could no longer represent me because I didn't want a divorce. She then proceeded to suggest that because I hadn't paid a retainer, that she wasn't representing me, but we definitely had established an attorney-client relationship over the course of almost 9 months, I was just paying on an hourly basis. I explained again, that I knew I couldn't stop the divorce from happening, but as a matter of principle, I was committing to my marriage until the end. Considering it was right before the July 4th holiday, I felt that she just didn't want to do the prep work instead of going on vacation. As a result, I wasn't able to retain an attorney on that short of notice and had to proceed with my hearing as Pro Se. As you could imagine, I was completely outmatched in my hearing going against another attorney, but I felt I had no other options. I was very discouraged at how she abandoned me when I needed her the most.