Catherine A. Vincent

I contacted Ms. Vincent regarding a contested divorce I was going through. This was a 3 year marriage, my ex-husband had hired an aggresive attorney who demand all post-separation documents which included two years of bank statements. Even though this documentation has nothing to do with my marriage ...and would be a financial hardship, I was told I had to produce it. Mind you my husband had never produced any documentation. When I met with Ms. Vincent and turned in my 1,000 pages of documentation, I requested that she make a request for discovery from my ex. Ms. Vincenr's reply was "you were only married 3 years, unless you are rich, there is nothing more to do here, we will submit the discovery and should call it a day." I felt she wasnt planning on representing my best interest because it was not going to garner her a large some of money. Within the 3 months I dealt with her, she used my $4,000 retainer for mostly communicating with the paralegal and also checking the paralegal's work. I was charged for various forms the paralegal said she completed but I never saw them nor were they made available in my file when I hired a new attorney.

Do your research and find another attorneys office to handle your divorce. Going through a divorce is not pleasant and the staff here did not make it any easier. I was dealing with an incompetent paralegal that made countless clerical errors on my paperwork. I was called to schedule an appointment to... meet with Catherine Vincent to review my papers and sign them to be filed. Well, that was a waste of everyone's time because the papers were beyond incomplete, after I was told it was. The first thing I was asked is if I had my copies. No, I do not. red flag! Then we began looking over everything. So much was missing and yet no one bothered to tell me what I needed just was rushed to schedule an appointment to sign final court papers. The attorney was not shy about showing her disgust towards the paralegal and what was not done yet. I found that to be very unprofessional and I was very disappointed and upset about this happening. I felt it was just a way to be able to charge me more money. Later I sent in an email expressing my concerns and how I felt that I should not be charged for this visit because they were not prepared. The charges credited back, but then I was also told that I could just not be their client anymore. As if I made an error. Last I checked I am the one paying you to help me. Looking back I feel I should have found a new attorney. Where is the customer service and empathy towards clients going through this hard time in life? Whenever I was emailed my invoices I got a sick feeling in my stomach because I was being charged and charged for people to be reviewing my case through out this whole process yet it seemed to be going no where yet they always wanted more and more money from me. There was so many of the other clerical errors I caught which if not caught by myself could have been huge issues on my legal papers. The worst one was where my income was switched with my ex husbands income. And they almost had his wage garnishments going to his old employer. My judgement was even rejected by the courts because of their clerical errors. After I sat with the attorney for almost 2 hours going through it to be sure it was correct. Unfortunately the errors caused my judgement to be re-submitted. I was assured I would not be charged for these changes because the were all clerical errors. I am still seeing these charges on my invoices and when I try to address the charges being removed, my email and calls are not returned. Now finally my case is done and final, but yet still having another issue. I have been waiting for my ex husbands wages to be garnished for weeks now. I finally get a letter from a payroll company asking for forms I do not have. Two days go by and countless phone calls to try and figure this out. I am told by the state of California that the income withholding order which was only sent to the employer should have been sent to the state of California Child Support unit not the employer. And that the income withholding order should not have both child support and spousal support on one, there should be two orders one for child support and one for spousal support. Because the spousal support did not have to be processed through the state. I would think that my attorney and paralegal would know this stuff, right?? This is extremely frustrating because I need that money so now I am going to have to wait several more weeks to receive any funds. I am a single mom with 2 kids I work 2 part time jobs and have not been receiving much help from their father/my ex. So once again their incompetent errors have struck again. This one now causing me a huge financial hardship. I want to also mention that I was very dissatisfied with how I was treated. Their level of empathy and professionalism is seriously lacking. As a paying client I was very upset when I experienced their rude unprofessional-ism when I expressed my concerns. After seeing other reviews, I agree with them it is all about the money in their pockets.

When my ex suddenly took our daughter out of state and filed there I was devastated. I went to Catherine because she had lots of experience and was a certified specialist. Catherine was able to fight jurisdiction and get her back to California in my care. I used Catherine from start to finish. She wa...s able to guide me through the process and produce quality results. I spent a lot on fees but when it came down to it it was worth every penny. Now that our case is over I have full custody of our daughter and the ex has minimal time. Ms. Vincent knows what she is doing and you can see where the 35 years of experience plays in. She ran circles around the other lawyer at trial. I am thankful for everything this office had done for me. I would absolutely recommend this lawyer.