Culver Winston Van Der Jagt

I can’t express my sincere gratitude to Culver Van Der Jagt! I was going through an uphill battle on a Motion to Restrict case - the case was ruled in my favor, but suddenly took a turn. I came to Van Der to assist me with a Motion to Respond on the other parties appeal. Van Der and his paralegal cam...e along my side & put together an AMAZING repose! Weeks later the District Judge DENIED the appeal & ruled on the magistrates order. Although this law firm didn’t represent me on my case, they offer a non-bundle rate to where those like myself pay for services when a response is needed. I would recommend this law firm to everyone. This attorney knows the law, he’s very fair with what he chargers, and takes the time to hear you! Thank you, thank you Van Der for EVERYTHING you & your paralegal did for me as well as my children!

Culver created our divorce decree and parenting plan which we took to court and Denver County filed copies as the official documents. When I went to get a home loan my pages read "1 of 10" and on page 9 read "5 of 8" and page 10 read "6 of 8" so the lender wanted the complete decree with correlated p...ages. Culver would not write a simple letter stating that the Excell or Word Doc spreadsheet had the numbers printed incorrectly and that the documents were complete. After 2 trips to Denver County Records, paying for certified copies and speaking with the clerk, Denver said there's nothing they can do because the pages were brought to then that way so that's something the mediator would need to clear up since he created them. Culver told me there was nothing he could do for me and the second time I reached out to him he didn't respond at all. During the first conversation I was given the impression that as a lawyer his time was too precious and unless I was ready to pay money he was done with me. I believe that a simple 5 min letter could have saved me hours and hours of headaches and efforts. OWN YOUR WORK AND STAND BEHIND IT! DON'T USE THIS OVERPAID JOKER!

My husband and I consulted with Culver a couple of times during our case when our regular Van der Jagt attorney was unavailable (vacation, in court, etc.). Culver was patience personified, he took time to answer phone calls, even took the time to talk when I had to walk-in without an appointment a t...ime or two. His professionalism, reassurance and answers to difficult questions helped to keep our spirits up during a hard 17-month case. Without the help of Culver, his lawyers, and the rest of his firm, we would have been floundering without a clear direction. His firm's prices are extremely reasonable and they don't bill for every little question, which given the length of our case, was greatly appreciated. Culver also helped my husband out with some advice regarding his ex-wife and saved us hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in unnecessary legal fees. There are many lawyers who will advise you to go ahead and file motions that aren't necessarily in the best interest of you and your family, whereas Culver's direct-speak approach and advice on the possible outcomes saved my husband from filing on an issue that probably wouldn't have gone anywhere and just needlessly aggravated the situation with his ex. Thanks to Culver, that situation didn't go from bad to worse. Attorneys aren't the ones, at the end of the day, who have to deal with the children involved in high-conflict divorces, but a good, caring, responsible attorney, who knows when to advise you NOT to file, can help your children and your family. Our consultations with Culver (and all his staff members) always helped us see the best possible picture for our kids. We cannot say enough good things about Culver and his attorneys and staff - I recommend him and his firm to anyone, anytime.

Van Der Jagt Law firm represented me in my divorce of 7.5 years. Nothing was sugar coated and the firm was more than UP FRONT and HONEST with me as to how the dissolution would go. I was told my ex husband would be getting half of my estate...but once we sat down and went through financials etc... ... He ended up getting only 10% of what I thought I was going to owe him. And that was a great relief especially seeing that I'm the one who pays ALL the bills upfront and in full. The WHOLE process was smooth and seamless. This firm handled every piece of paper work, phone calls and court appointments. EVERYONE was courteous and professional at all times even as cried on visiting the office and meeting my attorney. I AM MORE THAN HAPPY of the outcome and I so appreciate all this firm did for me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Angela

Don't trust what you read online. You won't find any reviews on my ex's attorney, yet my ex cleaned me out while Van der Jagt did nothing to defend me. Give Culver credit, he's good at getting bodies in the door. That initial meeting, he made all these promises, wanted to move aggressively, pushe...d me to file divorce papers immediately. I filed, and then... nothing. Lots of nothing. The attorney assigned to me kept telling me that we just had to wait for the initial status conference... then we had to wait for the PRE... then the mediation session... then it was all over. Meanwhile, my ex's attorney was filing motions, ordering a parental responsibility eval, putting me through the wringer. I was immediately assigned to one of Van der Jagt's contract attorneys. Terrible attorney. * My attorney generally wouldn't respond until I'd emailed twice about any given issue. * Once he went completely dark on me for over a week, lamely replying that he was out sick. You're kidding. You don't have an out of office notice on your damn email? * He dutifully emailed me every filing my ex's attorney made, without any accompanying explanation. I was left to my own devices to decipher the documents. When I did email my questions, it would take several days to get a reply and the replies were not helpful. * I asked if I should be filing the same motions and my attorney responded that he and Culver felt like these motions weren't helpful to the case and were just harassment. So it was fine for my ex to harass me, but they didn't approve of it. * That didn't really matter because he neglected to tell me that there's a 60 day pre-trial deadline for filing motions. On top of that he never asked if there were any motions I'd like to file. So by the time I got hit with the pattern interrogatories, etc, it was too late for me to request the same anyhow. * There's also a 60 day deadline for naming witnesses. He never asked if I wanted to call any witnesses. * My ex ordered a PRE, yet I received no coaching, no advice, nothing. As you might predict, my ex's attorney did the opposite, and the outcome should be obvious. The PRE, selected my my ex's attorney, handed out a report even more favorable than my ex requested. * So I walk into the mediation hearing with an extremely weak position. * At the mediation hearing, it turned out that he didn't have the software on his laptop to calculate child support payments. I had to download it myself. You might think that being a family law attorney he'd use this stuff daily, but you'd be mistaken. * At mediation my ex's attorney wrote the memorandum of understanding and the final documents. The MOU contained some major catches that my attorney missed. I did realize that things were starting to go badly about 6 weeks before my court date and I talked to another attorney. She told me that Van der Jagt hires contract attorneys and farms out cases to them, and apparently only does court appearances. My particular attorney she'd faced 3 times before and her take was that he was sloppy and lazy. I agree with her assessment completely, and hopefully if you've taken one thing from this review, it's that fact. Unfortunately, by the time I realized how bad it was, I'd missed the major deadlines and she wasn't willing to take on a case that had been so badly mismanaged. In the end, you should judge your attorney by the outcome. So here's the score: If I had taken my ex's initial proposal after the initial status conference, I would see my kids more than every other weekend. I'd have saved months of stress and indignity. I'd have a smaller alimony and child support payment. And I'd have saved tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. So hiring Van der Jagt cost me in the neighborhood of $30,000 up front, another $75,000 by the time I'm done paying alimony and child support, and a whole lot of stress, gray hair, and lines on my face.