Ivy L Kushner

Unfortunately, I would not recommend hiring Ivy L. Kushner for your Family Law case. This past year was by far the most difficult and demanding year of my life. I hired Ms. Kushner to represent me in a custody case that I was subjected to. From day one Ms. Kushner appeared to be professional,... compassionate and trustworthy. She listened to my case details and appeared to have a real understanding of what I would be up against. She also took the initiative to come to my house for our initial consultation. After a few weeks, and once the retainer fee had been cleared, it was clear to me that her only interest was to settle the case and not provide services that was in the best interest for me and my daughter. During the original conference, the topic of back child support came up. As I had already provided her with the calculations and breakdown of how much was owed, she was more than aware that back child support was due. When the topic was brought up in the meeting, she asked my ex and his attorney to leave the room. She then turned to me and said, “sit down, and shut up.” I am still in disbelief of the lack of professionalism displayed from that comment. Those words have stuck with me to this day. It made an already difficult situation that much worse. I was extremely open with her about the domestic abuse that occurred throughout the relationship, which ultimately left me with no choice but to move my daughter and myself out of the toxic environment. However, she completely disregarded it. With this understanding, greater detail should have been put into place to protect not only myself, but my daughter as well. Due to the abundance of mistakes throughout the document and severe lack of attention to detail, it not only has caused significant issues, but the financial burden it has caused in order to fix the document is incomparable. I felt forced to sign a document that I clearly was not comfortable with. I presented Ms. Kushner with a red line document highlighting everything that I did not agree to. Rather than taking the time to address my concerns, it was clear the main objective was to close the case and move on. I understand there is an emotional barrier that occurs over the years in this profession, however the outcome not only effect the next 13 years of my daughter’s life, it effects my life every single day. I do not believe she had our best interest in mind. I am now finding myself going through this extremely difficult and stressful situation once again to correct the mistakes. I hired Ms. Kushner because I do not know the law and needed guidance on the legal aspects of my case. I hold a high level of expectation for someone with her level of experience, both ethically and professionally – I feel as though I did not receive either. I just wanted to take a moment to provide feedback from my experience because I do not want this to happen to another single mom.