Tate W Bennett

I hired Tate Bennett to represent me for my divorce. I wasn't asking for any property or alimony, just custody of my 3 daughters (I am the mother). During the almost 2 years it took for my divorce to be final Tate was nearly impossible to get in touch with and didn't send me documents to review like ...he said he would. After talking to Tate trying to get a motion filed for temporary orders for child support and visitation for nearly 8 months he finally told me we had a court date but it wasn't necessary for me to be there if I didn't want to be. Of course I went but when I got there I was completely blind sided and found out in the court room that we weren't there for temporary orders, we were there because the other side had filed an order to show cause since we had never given them a financial declaration, something Tate had never asked me for or told me we needed. I was assessed sanctions in the amount of $1809.00 that day. Tate told me that he would be responsible for the sanctions since it was his negligence not mine that caused it. He told me that if I would allow the sanctions to be deducted from back child support he would write me a promissory note and pay me after the divorce was final. He continued to be impossible to get ahold of and didn't send me papers (including my divorce decree) to review before they were filed. I am now divorced and there are countless things missing or wrong in my final decree, things I reminded Tate of every time we spoke. He has never written me a promissory note and since my divorce has been finalized (February of 2016) he will not return my calls or speak to me at all. He never gave me one single statement in the entire two years and as far as I can tell he never did anything but lie to me and keep me placated while waited for the other half to file papers and handle the divorce so I'm not sure what my $1500.00 retainer went to. Hiring Tate was a huge mistake that I paid dearly for in time, money and my final divorce decree. I would have saved a fortune hiring a decent lawyer at double the hourly fee since my divorce should have taken no time at all and the sanctions for Tate not handling business ended up being mine to pay. It's really upsetting and sad, Tate really seemed like a nice guy but I really shouldn't have hired him or trusted him.