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Ilona Antonyan

Divorce and separation Attorney at San Diego, CA

3.9   12 reviews

also known as Antonyan Miranda, LLP

  • Licensed for 18 years
    State CA
    Acquired 2005
    Status
    Active No misconduct found

We have not found any instances of professional misconduct for this lawyer.

About Ilona

Learn Ilona’s areas of practice.

3
Practice areas
  1. Divorce and separation
    50%
    Contested/Uncontested Dissolution Matters

    19 years

  2. Domestic violence
    25%
    TRO, EPO,MPO, DVTRO, CHRO

    19 years

  3. Family
    25%
    • Divorce, Legal Separation, and Annulment • Pre-Marital and Marital Agreements • Separation and Property Settlement • Paternity • Child Support • Spousal Support • Child Custody & Visitation • Mediation Services • International Abduction of Children • Domestic Violence

    19 years

Ilona Antonyan is a Founding Partner of Antonyan Miranda, a litigation trial attorney, and a Certified Family Law Specialist. Ms. Antonyan became the youngest person in California to become a Certified Family Law Specialist, after achieving the rigorous requirements in only five years of practice.

Having immigrated to the United States in 1992 as an Armenian refugee, Ms. Antonyan is fluent in English, Russian, and Spanish, and is collaterally licensed as a real estate broker, and also obtained Series 7 and 66 securities licenses. Ms. Antonyan focuses her practice exclusively on family law matters, specializing in high-net worth cases and those which generally involve complex areas of law and litigation. Given her diverse cultural background, Ms. Antonyan regularly represents international businesspersons and large marital estates with an international nexus. Prior to co-founding Antonyan Miranda, Ms. Antonyan managed her own successful family law and civil litigation practice, where she achieved multi-million dollar jury verdicts on behalf of her plaintiff clients.

In recognition of her substantial family law and trial accomplishments, Ms. Antonyan was named as a Super Lawyer® in 2015, 2016, and 2017, and has also been selected as a Top Attorney by the San Diego Daily Transcript.

Concurrent to the practice of law, Ms. Antonyan teaches as an Adjunct Professor of Family Law at California Western School of Law, and also volunteers as a Judge Pro Tem in both the Family Law and Small Claims divisions of the San Diego Superior Court. Ms. Antonyan previously served three years as a Director for the San Diego County Bar Association's Board of Directors, from 2012 through December 2015. Ms. Antonyan also speaks at various CLE and legal seminars.

Ms. Antonyan graduated Cum Laude from Case Western Reserve University in only two-and-a-half years with two majors and two minors, including a B.A. in Psychology and Political Science, and received her Juris Doctorate in just two years from California Western School of Law.

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Contact Ilona

Similar lawyers nearby

Antonyan Miranda, LLP
402 W Broadway
21st Floor
San Diego, CA, 92101

Reviews

3.9 / 5.0
  12 customer reviews
Posted by Zoraya | January 28, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
The best divorce attorney
Ilona provide me with detail information so I can make the best decision for my kids and I . She made the process very essay to follow and use the best technique to make it a win win ! In court she was very assertive and presented my case in a way that gave me the edge to have resolution to my case .
Posted by Natalia | December 28, 2014
Victorious
Outstanding and professional. Great team work. She helped me through the custody and divorce , never failed to stand for my rights .
Posted by anonymous | December 4, 2014
Excellent attorney with a personal touch
She has always come through for me whenever I needed her the most. She has come for me on a day when she lost her grandfather . She showed up at the court the day she came from different country. That tells that she always puts her clients first.
Posted by Natalia | December 4, 2014
I think that she is one of the best
I have been handling my aunt's divorce case since 2004. Prior meeting Ilona Antonyan, I hired and fired 3 different attorneys because they were unable to perform. I've been using her service ever since. I truly believe that she is the best. I could go on and on with the story of my aunt's complicated divorce procedure including contempt hearings......The point is that the ending result of the hearings was exactly what we wanted and I believe that there are not many attorneys in San Diego who could handle a case as aggressively and productively as Ilona Antonyan. Advice: I know that we are all very emotional and stressed out due to divorce /other court procedures but try not to tell her what to do and try not to bother her with too many phone calls, it distracts her from doing her job. She is a pro therefore she knows what to do, she is able to help and she is very clever and honest.
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Posted by Jose | December 4, 2014
Excellent representation in the most difficult of times!
There are 3 reasons why I would highly recommend Ilona Antonyan to anybody going through a divorce. First of all, at my initial consultation, she recommended me to a parenting class which really helped me to parent/be there for my kids and dealing with my ex. I felt that I was really helped by her, even though, I hadn't hired her yet. I cannot stress the positive impact this had on my children, me ex, and myself, not to mention the entire divorce process. I realized that Ms. Antonyan really cares not only about the work she does, but about people and families she helps. Secondly, I know first hand that Ms. Antonyan has the best staff, who not only are knowledgeable and attentive, but are willing to go the extra mile for you. They are really, a great group of professionals who care about what they do. There was one early evening that some documents needed my signature, I could not go up to her office. I pulled my car up to the entrance and someone from her office brought the documents to me, to sign. It's those little things that her staff did, that made them stand out. Thirdly, and certainly the most important. Ms Antonyan. Her extensive knowledge of the law and cases. The way she applies that knowledge to the documents and exhibits she prepares for court. Her work ethic, and the way she prepares, not only herself, but her clients for court. All this, combined with her great personality make for a great impact to all those involved in the case. At court AND the negotiation table, is where all the mentioned above, came together and was the MOST effective. My case was probably one of the lengthiest and did involve trial AND a settlement. Needless to say, I was really happy with the outcome of my divorce case, I felt protected at EVERY step of the way. And looking back, I know that things went well for me, in large part, because of Ilona Antonyan.
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Posted by Vera B. | March 29, 2014
She's a great Lawyer & did an amazing job !
I was very pleased with my entire divorce process with Ilona Antonyan. Divorce is never easy and always the emotional. I was very happy with Ilona, she understood the importance of compassion and working hard. She's a great Lawyer and did an amazing job. I recommend Ilona to anyone who is looking for caring and understanding Attorney. Vera B.
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Posted by Michele | November 6, 2013
Excellent Representation
Ilona and her staff are friendly, efficient, and expedient. I feel very blessed to have found such a wonderful professional who goes beyond the call of duty for her clients. Since she has been on my case, I have peace of mind because I know that she truly cares. I haven't had good experiences with attorneys in the past, but Ilona gives the profession a GOOD name.
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Posted by Emil | November 17, 2009
Great, agressive Attorney!!!
Won both of my cases. Handled everything just the way I wanted. Would recommend this law firm to everybody.
Posted by anonymous | August 27, 2015
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
One of the toughest lawyer I ever met!
I fired my 3 laywers after seeing they just playing my domestic violence and divorce case. I have no doubt with this lawyer and from the very beginning I saw her as being super smart, hardworking, quick and aggressive, a perfect team match I was looking for. She knows what you need to fight for and able to stand with you all throughout the case. She will help you to decide quickly which is best and fair to you. She is also willing to work with you and help you to reach meeting both goals. I like the idea of giving you the vision of your case, targeting goals and put hardwork on it. Her performance is excellent! She gave me a good fight of custody and support. What you paid for is really worth it! Thank you!!! (E.P)
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Posted by anonymous | March 2, 2023
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Scam Artist
I wish I NEVER paid these people to represent me. They excessively billed me and made me pay thousands in legal fees. And I’m still not divorced it feels like they are stringing me along for money. RUN from this place don’t believe the “good” reviews they are bought by the firm to make people believe they are authentic. The owners come from money you can tell and are not down to earth
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Posted by Jan | September 28, 2022
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Worst mistake of my life
Please do some research before you hire this poor excuse for an attorney. She will completely take as a of you and screw your life up. It’s been 3 years and I still wake up mad every day about what she did to me. Don’t make the same mistake I did and get fooled by her fast talk and big office with tons of overhead. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out how she pays for this show. You have been warned. She will laugh all the way to the bank.
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Posted by Dina | April 1, 2022
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Left me worse off than ever
If this woman ever wants off your case, don't sign the substitution of attorney form. She will tell you it doesn't look good to be relieved by the judge and she has to inform the court that you 2 had a communication breakdown. It's all a lie, the judge doesn't care. The only difference between the 2 is at least you will draw attention to this firm's practice of cleaning out and then dumping their clients. And if there are other litigants in the courtroom, let your story be a warning to them to stay away. In 9 months of Ilona being my attorney, I got no more than I would get paying 350/hr. Yes, I know it is petty to say it now and I should've never hired her at 650/hr rate, but you never know until you see someone in action whether they are really what they portray. I get that everyone has their method of doing things, but what I'm most unhappy about was that she started preparing to part ways with me even before making any real progress. And even though she planned to leave me to do the toughest part by myself, she would insist on doing things in a way when I felt it wouldn't be beneficial, and then complained that I don't listen to her advice. I finally started putting my foot down and she would eventually do it my way, and it would prove to be the correct strategy, but then the next thing would come up and again she would encourage me to go her way. We spent a lot of time and money arguing over whose way was better, a huge one being a restraining order I had against me, which was a total fabrication. It was so silly, I knew I could prevail in that hearing with my eyes closed. Against my better judgment, I let her firm represent me because she insisted, saying "I don't want you to f__k s__t up in your custody case if you lose" I gave up and agreed, and they lost because they wouldn'tlisten to me. The judge's decision rested on exactly the strategy I wanted to take up, but they disagreed and I couldn't proceed how I wanted and how the judge apparently wished to see it handled. She didn't even apologize, just became more interested in dumping me. All of the sudden it became no big deal and wouldn’t interfere with custody. The attorney who handled it for me didn't apologize either, didn't even write me for a week. He eventually wrote me, pointing the finger at me for bringing it on myself, which was a lie. He tried to downplay the fallout of his dumb loss like no biggie, saying, "I'm sure Ilona would agree that......" she immediately wrote back "I agree", like I wouldn't notice that the time stamp of their emails was the same to the minute, they were obviously b.s.ing me to divert attention from their incorrect actions. It was really hurtful that my attorneys thought I could be dumb enough to fall for this tactic. Then, to throw me a bone she came by my spa for a facial. I was happy to take care of her and she looked pleased. She said she would write me a review. When I received it, I realized that she opened a new yelp account to write it, instead of her existing account, like she was embarrassed someone would find out she came to my spa. It felt like I was her side piece, on the down-low. It's very weird that she never gave me the respect I deserved, and thought she could outsmart me, which was totally unnecessary. This is not high-school and these weren't the SATs. It really stood out that the entire time she never once told the Court, "my client wants her child returned " even though that's all I ever wanted. To the last day of her representing me, she never once said it, out loud or on paper. My kiddo remains living far away from me and the judge might even think I don't want him. Now, I can't even afford to visit my baby and my case is so old, no one wants to touch it. There are so many fields of law, why go into family if family is not something you are passionate about? You could charge just as much and not ruin a kid's life. She literally landed me further than I've ever been
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Cost

Rates
  • Hourly Rates $ 295-700 per hour
Payment methods
Cash, Check, Credit Card

Resume

AVVO RATING 10.0 (Superb)

Work Experience

  • Founding Partner
  • ANTONYAN MIRANDA, LLP
  • 2015 - Present
  • Adjunct Professor
  • California Western School Of Law
  • 2015 - Present
  • Owner
  • THE LAW OFFICE OF ILONA ANTONYAN, APC
  • 2005 - 2015

Education

  • California Western SOL
  • Law
  • 2004
  • Case Western Reserve University
  • Undergraduate (B.A)
  • 2002

Legal Cases

  • Flores v. Scripps
  • Jury Verdict in Favor of Plaitiffs
  • Yousif v. Gewarges
  • Juy Verdict for the Plaintiff

Associations

  • • Association of Certified Family Law Specialists
  • Member
  • 2011 - Present
  • National Association of Realtors
  • Member
  • 2007 - Present
  • San Diego Association of Realtors
  • Member
  • 2007 - Present
  • American Association for Justice
  • Member
  • 2006 - Present
  • State Bar of California
  • Attorney at Law
  • 2005 - Present
  • Consumer Attorneys of California
  • Member
  • 2005 - Present
  • Consumer Attorneys of San Diego
  • Member
  • 2005 - Present
  • San Diego County Bar Association
  • Member
  • 2005 - Present
  • San Diego County Bar Association
  • Director, Board of Directors
  • 2012 - 2015
View all associations

Languages Spoken

  • Russian
  • Spanish

Honors and Awards

  • SUPER LAWYER-Rising Star
  • Super Lawyers Magazine
  • 2015
  • San Diego Daily Transcript
  • 2011 San Diego Top "Young Attorneys"
  • 2011
  • Certified Specialist - Family Law
  • State Bar of California
  • 2011

Speaking Engagements

Attorney endorsements

Received (17)
Given (3)
Endorse Ilona
Family Attorney | Apr 11
Relationship: Worked together on matter
"Ilona Antonyan is as good as they come. Her expertise and tireless work ethic are surpassed only by the care and consideration she devotes to each one of her clients. I have referred my own clients to Ilona in the past, and would recommend her without hesitation to anyone in need of her services."
Family Attorney | May 05
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"Hiring an experienced family law attorney is the best way you get peace of mind when dealing with custody , visitation, spousal support, etc. Having a family law attorney's services helps ensure that nothing is left out of your case/claim or matter, which means that costly mistakes won't come back to bite you later. I endorse this lawyer . -Anthony Munoz, Esq."
Family Attorney | Apr 14
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"Ms. Antonyan is a intelligent and hard-working attorney."
Family Attorney | Dec 18
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"I endorse this lawyer. Ilona is knowledgeable, practical and creative."
Family Attorney | Dec 12
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"Talk about beauty and the beast-- Ilona is both! On one hand, she's a very kind and intelligent attorney who has great empathy for her clients. However, Ilona is ferocious in the courtroom and fights very hard for her clients. Furthermore, she's certified by the CA State Bar as a Family Law Specialist. Therefore, I enthusiastically endorse this lawyer. She's truly top notch."
Family Attorney | Dec 10
Relationship: Opposing Counsel on matter
"I Had a trial against Ms. Antonyan. I found her to be an excellent and capable trial attorney. I recommend her without reservation."
Family Attorney | Dec 09
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"I endorse this lawyer."
Family Attorney | Nov 29
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"This attorney works very hard for the clients and keeps up with the law by attending legal seminars to assist them in this regard. I endorse this attorney."
Family Attorney | Nov 25
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"Ilona Antonyan is an aggressive, intelligent and sharp attorney. She obtains big results because of her determination and drive. I have seen her in action and know of her reputation amongst the legal community for being an excellent choice for family law. She is on our firm's referral list and we send clients to her office without reservation since I know her team will do a fabulous job."
Divorce and separation Attorney | Nov 13
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"I endorse this lawyer."
Family Attorney | Sep 18
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"Your resume speaks for itself and I consider you a valuable member of the attorney community. I would recommend you to anyone and everyone who needs your services. I whole heartedly endorse this lawyer!"
Family Attorney | Jul 10
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"Illona is both a tenacious litigator and a very personable person. Her attention to detail, coupled with her caring & persuasive demeanor, serve her clients well and aid them in securing the best outcome possible. I highly recommend Illona for your family law needs."
Family Attorney | Jun 17
Relationship: Friend
"I endorse this lawyer."
Family Attorney | May 13
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"Ms. Antonyan is an excellent lawyer. She works tirelessly for her clients and always seeks the best results for them. I recommend her services to anyone needing of assistance in a family law matter."
Family Attorney | Apr 23
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"I endorse this lawyer. I have referred over many cases to this attorney and she has provided them with exceptional legal services."
Family Attorney | Jun 24
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"Ilona is astute, passionate, and possesses ambition that is second to none. She is the total package."
Personal injury Attorney | Jun 16
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"Ilona has done a terrific job in getting relevant information out to injured folks in California. She focuses on both on personal injury and family law - so she is sharp in both! She is also very friendly and enjoys helping her clients. Just check out her website and her answered questions right here on Avvo.com. I endorse this lawyer and her legal work!"
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Litigation
Divorce and separation

Avvo Contributions

9 Legal Answers 0 Legal Guides
San Diego Divorce and separation Lawyer Ilona Antonyan
Ilona Antonyan
Divorce and separation Attorney
San Diego, CA
Licensed for 18 years