Dustin T Dudley

Contacted Dudley to seek assistance in a family law matter. Had a very good informative phone conversation with him. He asked that we email him the info conserning our case. He stated he would get back to us after his vacation. I emailed everything and waited until he said he would be back from vaca...tion. We actually waited 3 extra days. We never heard back from him. Since timing was an issue for us, we decided to go with another attorney, Dudley appears to be a very informed attorney, if he had gotten back to us, we would have hired him.

Took my case. Explained the law that applied to the issues. Outlined a strategy. Tried to settle my divorce case early according to the exact terms we ended up with at trial. Would have saved thousands if my wife had chosen a better attorney who would have known that our first settlement offer wa...s exactly what the judge was going to give us at trial anyway. The judge's eventual order from trial was nearly an exact copy of the consent decree settlement offer Mr. Dudley drafted and sent to the other side one month after my wife filed her answer. She was even ordered to repay most of my attorney's fees based upon her unreasonable litigation.

I found Dustin to be immediately personable, so I hired him to help me through my divorce with children. Within days, I discovered Mr. Dudley lacked specific knowledge I personally required, and had difficulty taking my needs and requests into consideration when preparing my paperwork. At least... one notice of errata had to be filed because of his poor attention to detail. Dustin refused to listen to me. For that reason, the revisions back and forth on my file were numerous. I, of course, was charged for each revision, though we ended up with my original requests being filed and ordered through court. My divorce cost me more than double what it should have, if Mr. Dudley had simply listened to me from the beginning. I felt I was fighting for my rights and needs the whole way through with my own lawyer. Though the end result gave me what I asked for from day 1, it was only through my own persistence - really I had to force him to draw up the decree as I had requested. Throughout the entire process Dustin was condescending and rude. Had I not already invested in him, I would have fired him. Also, because of Dustin's ineptitude, I actually was forced to pay a fee belonging to and on behalf of my ex-husband, just to get it done before the end of the year. I urged Dustin to push for the divorce to be complete before the end of the year, in order to avoid having to file my taxes with my ex-husband one more year. Dustin, in his utter ignorance, promised me that would not be the case, even after I consulted with my CPA, who confirmed I was correct in what I had been explaining to my lawyer. A divorce attorney should know basics of such things, or refrain from advising. I feel he is not able to handle any type of divorce that deviates from typical. After all was said and done, Dustin failed to file the last bit of paperwork in early December, as promised, and I was forced to file my taxes one more year with my ex-husband. I followed up with the court to be certain the file was not just sitting on some judge's desk, but in fact the final bit had not been filed by my attorney. I am frequently asked for recommendation of a family lawyer. I could never, in good conscience, recommend this Dustin Dudley.