We had a prolonged experience with Evans Family Law Firm. We first spoke in July 2023 to begin an open and shut case. All we had to do was remove parental rights from my daughter's biological father, uncontested, and then go through the adoption process. We were told on the initial call that it would... be a very fast process because he was cooperative, which would make every other step go much faster & smoother, as well (just a few months tops, and only about $3500).
A few months later, we finally got the case transferred to Travis county from out of town, which took lots of "time and resources." The transfer apparently took months and thousands of dollars (along with having to send us one form twice to sign for some reason). We were then told we would be done before Thanksgiving or Christmas at the latest. I didn't hear much until late January when the court/hearing date started being finally processed for Feb. I emailed again mid-Feb, over two weeks later, to find out the court date as we still knew nothing.
Every little thing cost an exuberant amount, and we went through thousands of dollars of our retainer for what appeared to be sending emails (which could cost anywhere between ~$20-$40 per email, depending who sent it, even if the email was only one or two sentences OR they just read it and didn't respond), filing things, or having discussions with each other in office about the case--there were lots of discussions about this easy, uncontested, open and shut case, too. Documents were sent individually over days rather than in batches, which only became an issue (outside email costs) when it was something like a notarization that could have been done together so I didn't have to go to a notary days apart. Otherwise, I had to contact them first to get any kind of news or update about the case or to get it moving.
I allow that I'm not a lawyer, but it's my understanding that an uncontested stepchild adoption should only take about 3 months, 6 at the most (especially now that the home study--the long part--can be waived for situations like ours). They'd give us timelines that told us before the holiday season of last year. It ended up taking 7 months to get to the hearing day with thousands more dollars spent than they originally suggested, and we honestly have no idea why things took so long or why it cost so much for what needed to be done (despite the itemized invoices we received). When we inquired, they basically just told us these things take time and resources, plus the holiday season (that the case should have been done before even getting to).
Most of our contact was via email, so when we finally met them, they were really nice, and I felt bad for feeling negatively towards them. But then right after the court date, we were told we were going to pick up our certified copies (so we could start the other name change processes) that same day, which turned into "you can come to the office next week to get them" so they didn't have to wait around the courthouse that day, which then turned into another 3 weeks and had to meet them down at the courthouse yet again because, besides the certified copies, we had to sign something else in front of a clerk to give to them... and we didn't end up needing to do that. On top of this, they spelled the biological father's name wrong on an official document and had to use more time and resources to get that fixed (though I don't believe they charged us for that--only the emails talking about it). By the end, it cost us over $8600 and *8 months later* finally being done (it was also over $1100 over the retainer even after they kindly didn't charge us for things here and there throughout the months).
All of that being said, I am obviously happy with the turnout, and they were very pleasant in person. I just wish the journey would have been as smooth as they originally told us, and I feel I could have gotten the same turnout with a different journey elsewhere.