Ashley Donovan

I was referred to Ashley by a DV hotline. Because I didn't work and my husband controlled the money, she said she could file to have my legal fees taken from the savings account. She said she could file for temporary spousal maintenance. None of these things happened. She wasn't prepared for thes...e things at the first hearing, and never scheduled another hearing for them. I also had issues with her keeping phone appointments. For one appointment, she called to say she was stuck in traffic and would call in 30 minutes. Another time her paralegal set up a phone appointment for 4:00 the following day; Ashley never phoned. I received no response for one week. Ashley set up a time to meet me 30 minutes before court and never showed, and was 10 minutes late for the court hearing. At this hearing the judge wanted to move forward with the Temporary Orders but Ashley said she was not prepared for that, yet I had been told she would ask for the TO at this hearing. On another day, I had a 4:00 phone appointment scheduled, and her paralegal called earlier to confirm the appointment. At 4:00 I received no phone call. I called the office at 4:04 and left a voicemail. I continued to call and no one answered. I'd taken off work to make this appointment. Her paralegal later said I hadn't given them the correct phone number, but the paralegal had successfully called me that morning to confirm the appointment. After an in-office appointment, I asked the paralegal if she needed to copy my tax documents I'd brought with me. She said 'no', but later in the week stated she needed them ASAP. I lived 30 minutes from their office and have 3 young girls; it's not easy for me, and would've been more convenient if she'd taken them from me when I was there and asked. On January 9 Ashley notified my spouse's attorney that she had her baby early and this would delay the drafting of the divorce decree. On January 24 and February 8, my spouse's attorney e-mailed Ashley for an update and received 'no substantive response.' He finally received a response February 14. There were several more communication issues both with his attorney and with me; I often did not know what was happening with my case, or had to re-e-mail questions after a week of no response. I also couldn't get their file-sharing program to work, & her paralegal's response was: it worked before so I need to try again. The decree stated 'No Signifiant Domestic Violence has occurred, even though DV did occur and I was referred to her by the DV hotline. I asked to have that language change; she changed it in the decree but left it in the Parenting Plan. As an ESL DV survivor, I'd wanted spousal maintenance so I could go back to school for more English lessons and to learn a trade. While married, my husband didn't allow me to go to school and rarely let me work; when he did, he only let me be a cashier at the Dollar Store. I received no spousal maintenance; I'm responsible for 20% of my children's expenses even though my husband has moved overseas and never has my girls. I feel that there was no consideration for the difficulties I had and would have as a DV survivor. I received no money from the savings account. I received child support, permission to move to another state, and majority custody, and that's it. I didn't feel Ashley had my and my children's best interest in mind; I feel she let my spouse's attorney 'win'; and I felt that it didn't matter that I asked for Spousal Maintenance so I could afford English classes and trade school classes. I felt she was very hard on me; she often asked me why I didn't have a job, and said the judge would ask me this. The judge never asked. I felt she didn't understand my situation: I took care of my young daughters, and if my husband told me to work at the Dollar Store, then I worked. I did what he told me. He made 6 figures. I would not refer a DV survivor to her. I am left struggling to survive.