Celia J. Harned

Ms. Harned is a completely biased CFI who will not rely on recent psychological studies...or any studies. Just ask her. Celia: "The studies show [my parenting plan] is in the best interests of the child." Me: "What studies are you referring to?" Celia: "The studies show this." Me: "Well, can... you name a few?" Celia: "I don't have time to list all of the studies; you'll have to look them up." It is telling when someone practicing for as long as she has been but can't name a single study to back up anything. Her CFI report was completely biased. She shaped facts by leaving out details that would be damning to the other party. I also can confirm spelling mistakes and carelessness in obtaining facts. I live outside of Colorado and wanted a live virtual interview, which was denied. I still sent videos; I asked obvious questions about the videos to test whether she actually watched them. Nope. Now I have a Court Order that adopted her "report" almost verbatim.

Celia Harned was assigned on my family court case. If I can provide any advice, please attempt to work things out with an ex without the court's intervention. Whenever the legal system has to step in to decide what's best for your child, it is an unfit circumstance. It is essentially impossible. W...ith that said, if you do have to involve the courts, then you and your ex definitely need to agree on a Child Family Investigator (CFI) from a list you can request from the court or do an online search. DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT be defaulted or let the Courts assign you this person, Celia Harned! I have worked with many attorneys on various issues and have never met one as incompetent as this "attorney". There was no thorough investigation but rather a very lazy attempt done with haste. Even when details were provided in writing from other entities to Celia Harned, she could not articulate or summarize them in the report for the court?!? Her final report was as if a grade school child had written it. I will also add the courts was not unfavorable in its decision based on the facts toward me, however, it did require going beyond Celia Harned's brief. Celia Harned's reporting was subjective on my behalf and being the honest person I am, I even spoke up in Court on my ex's behalf as her reports made him out to be the "bad" parent. This is an integrity issue and I could never again work with such a dishonest and unscrupulous and "attorney". She is the dregs of legal representation! I did some research on Celia Harned as an attorney. Celia Harned is a Court appointed attorney who receives all her clients from the Court. This means she gets ALL of her assignments from the Family Courts and do not have any private practice clients. She regularly works with lower income or uneducated clients and hence she biases reporting against who she subjectively chooses. There is no legal recourse because either party aren't financially able to do so. Lastly, the maximum a CFI, by recent law, can make for family investigations is $2000 ($1000 from each party). At the time Celia Harned was assigned to my family court case, she was demanding additional monies from me until I found this fees cap online. Again, this "attorney" practices are unscrupulous and legally liable with anyone who is willing to pursue. I took the time to write this because I want to help those who are in a family struggle so that both parties can hopefully work things out. If you leave your children in the hands of the Courts or much, much worse in the hands of Celia Harned, you will possibly regret it.

Celia is firmly aware of how to work a case. She is known by the professionals in my county and is trustworthy enough for them to recommend her. She treated my case with extreme fairness and listened to all of the facts. She cares about the truth and fairness for all. Working between battling pa...rents and quarreling ex's must be near impossible but she treated me and my ex with great concern FOR OUR CHILDREN! That is an important FACT. You do not want a lawyer who will side with one person or another you want one who will do WHAT IS BEST FOR YOUR CHILDREN! I needed her during a family crisis and she stopped what she was doing on a Sunday and drove literally across town to meet with me.

Celia is very incompetent and should not have a license to practice law. In my case, we both wanted equal custody however there were minor issues to hash out regarding the children. Celia waited almost a yr to write her report (2 days before our hearing), she never met with any of our witnesses, in... the report she misspelled the kids names, the issue that was decided on, she had it wrong in the report by having it concern the older child when in actuality, the issues laid with the younger child. She made one decision & then changed her mind once the other party didn't like it. She never came by for a 2nd visit, she called instead. She asked if I had any concerns, I said yes and explained. She never followed up on my concerns nor on the other party's concerns and when writing her report, she lied in the report by putting I had no further concerns. Half of her report were lies and misinformation regarding both parties. This woman should be barred and reported to as many people as possible. BEWARE. All she cares about is taking your money. Her reports are inaccurate, she doesn't followup on anything, and she makes judgments by her own personal beliefs, not by what the truth is.