Elizabeth Diane Fondren

Elizabeth Diane Fondren

4.5
Rating: 7.9

Licensed for 24 years

Family Lawyer at Huntington Beach, CA
Practice Areas: Family, Estate Planning

One Pacific Plaza, 7755 Center Avenue, 11th Floor, Huntington Beach, CA

About Elizabeth

Practice Areas

2

Practice Areas

Family 90%

Family Law services include: Dissolution of Marriage (Divorce) Legal Separation Nullity of Marriage (Annulment) Paternity Child Custody, Visitation & Support Spousal Support Dividing Assets & Assigning Debt Modifying Orders Pre/Postnuptial Agreements

24 years

90%
Estate Planning 10%

Comprehensive estate planning ​packages include: Living Trust Pour-Over Will Powers of Attorney Health Care Directive Transfer Deed and PCOR

17 years

10%

Fees and Rates

Cost

Free Consultation

$0 first 30 minutes


Payment Methods

  • Cash
  • Check
  • Credit Card

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Licenses

Licensed in California for 24 years

State: California

Acquired: 2001

Active

No misconduct found

Location

Law Office of Elizabeth D. Fondren

One Pacific Plaza, 7755 Center Avenue, 11th Floor, Huntington Beach, CA, 92647

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Elizabeth Diane Fondren's Reviews

Avvo Review Score

4.5 /5.0

15 Client Reviews

Filter Avvo Reviews (15) Refine reviews to match your needs. Use the filters to quickly surface reviews that align with your case or priorities.

Showing 1 - 5 of 15 reviews

Posted by Tim | March 20, 2019 | Hired Attorney | Divorce & Separation

Divorce

Elizabeth was fantastic! She represented me getting me through my divorce. Her expertise helping me to deal with my ex helped me get through a tough part of my life. I found the best person to do the job! Thank you Elizabeth!

Posted by irene | March 23, 2016 | Hired Attorney | Divorce & Separation

Excellent Sharp Smart Attorney With A Heart

Elizabeth represented me in my contested divorce more than 10 years ago and renewed my faith in attorneys. We didn't hv any assets to fight about and my ex was fighting for the sake of fighting and hired some scum attorneys, whom he paid with our joint account money which were in dispute for that mat...ter, they wrote about splitting assets such as rubber bands and such, it was a disgrace. Then my father died suddenly. it was the worst time in my life. Elizabeth was light in the dark. She stood up for me when I couldn't even stand up straight. She wrote her letters succinctly and was the sharpest knife in the drawer. She put those scum in their place. Not only that she has a heart of gold and compassion. She truly believes in JUSTICE. i was a mess she saved me. True Godsend. I'm truly always grateful to her. I even broght her flowers!! Who buys their lawyers flowers? Thats how special she is. I do not always give reviews but she is 10 stars all the way. I see some disgruntled reviews of her and I do want to set things straight. They are wrong about her. I highly recommend her as an excellent attorney with integrity, shes intelligent wins cases and a real person with a heart of gold, a Godsend

Elizabeth Fondren

Replied last March 23, 2016

Thank you, Irene! Your words touched me, and I appreciate the time you took to post this review. It means a lot to me. You know, I still have that wonderful, soft pashmina you brought me from Singapore. I think of you every time I wear it! I hope you and your family are well. So good to hear from you.

Posted by John | February 11, 2013 | Divorce & Separation

About my experience

I am currently working with Elizabeth. She was recommended to me by my marriage counselor. Unfortunately things did not work out there and we ended up working with Elizabeth. I recommended her to a friend in the beginning. That friend later questioned why i recommended her. Now i am encountering ...the same concerns he had. I should have known better to recommend someone i had little experience with to date. I expected a mediator who would lay out the facts accurately. Be fair, knowledgeable and responsive, and help us negotiate a reasonable final outcome. After several meetings with Elizabeth i learned from a friend about the Morse Marsden rule. Elizabeth had never shared this rule with us. In my case this makes a substantial difference in my financial outcome. I’m already dealing with onerous asset splits and alimony expense, at least relative to me. So this is when I firstcame to question whether Elizabeth was truly fair. Nevertheless, I was willing to look past this in an effort to reach a reasonable settlement. In fact, I was willing to leave out this calculation for now. Next, we learned she went on vacation for 6 weeks while we were hoping to finalize our divorce. Everyone is entitled to their vacation. And I'm sure Elizabeth's job is very taxing. So we were certainly understanding. Then following her vacation we were informed that in order to complete the status-only filing for divorce she needed to receive back a Notice and Acknowledgment of Receipt form from my employer. Although, she forgot i no longer worked for that company so she sent it to my previous employer's address. 45 days later she informed me she never heard back. So she had to send it again. Ok, mistakes happen. We can forgive and move on... Now it is into the new year. Costs continue to rise with Elizabeth as i'm trying to pay temporary alimony and child support with little left to cover my expenses. Now we're told that the procedure to get a stipulation status-only judgement through is "a little bit more complicated in that it requires the filing of a noticed motion". So therefore, my costs and time. Then there was a problem with Elizabeth’s notary license. I won't go into that... But it boils down to even more delays and challenges. Now I'm trying to deal with getting everything finalized once and for all. It’s an exhausting process. I’m sure hoping there are no further “technical difficulties” in getting this done. Elizabeth has run my final dissomaster numbers and they got worse... She forgot that she’s already been told that we no longer have child care costs since she is now in public school and no longer goes to Montessori school. She also is leaving it to me to “work it out” with my soon-to-be-ex on how we’ll handle the fact that I pay for alimony and child support and she also lives in a house for free that I pay half the mortgage on, but don’t live in. I’ve read that in such situations I should get credit for such a thing. But Elizabeth won’t say anything about it. She picks and chooses the topics to respond to... I could go on and on about my challenges with Elizabeth. My guess is that she has lots of clients and can barely give the proper attention to any of them. I’m sure it is a very stressful job. And I’m sure she deals with lots of unreasonable people. But to sum up my experience, I definitely do not feel she was fair with me. She takes a long time to respond, which is very difficult when you are faced with trying to figure out how you will make ends meet and can’t sleep as a result. And she either isn’t very knowledgeable or she simply decides things like Morse Marsden aren’t worth mentioning. In general, my experience has not been good. I could not recommend Elizabeth to anyone else.

Elizabeth Fondren

Replied last March 23, 2013

I find it extremely disconcerting to read such a negative review when our interaction was so positive, John. I actually feel rather betrayed. You came to my office a broken man, deeply saddened by the circumstances of your failed marriage. You were at all times a gentleman, though, and you quickly earned my utmost respect for how you handled yourself. You are an astute business man with vast experience in real estate and finance and in short order laid out your goals for the mediation, including a proposed property settlement which clearly excluded any Moore/Marsden calculations. You demonstrated a firm understanding of your rights and duties, and the pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages, of your proposal. You did become a bit beleaguered during our negotiations at a couple points and expressed some upset, but later apologized profusely, explaining that sometimes your emotions did get the better of you, and we moved forward. Your case took longer than most, yes, but largely because you yourself asked for everything to be put on hold for an extended period of time. It was for a legitimate reason and was stipulated to by both parties. The delay ultimately allowed you the time and tools to effect a plan that saved you a tremendous amount of money. We recently finished your case and are currently awaiting the return of your full stipulated judgment from the court. I call that a success. The case you referred to me also resulted in a full settlement some time ago so I'm not sure why you mentioned that in a negative context. Avvo does not notify me when a review - good or bad - is posted on my profile. I wish they did because it appears yours was submitted about a month ago, a bit before we finalized the terms of your settlement. So perhaps this is all a matter of timing. Perhaps now you wouldn't have chosen to post this kind of review. I don't know, and perhaps never will. Family Law, my dedicated area of practice and something I feel very passionately about, can be tricky at times, full of differing perspectives and flaring tempers (after all, we are dealing with those things nearest and dearest to our hearts - kids and money!) But there remains one constant for me: I get to help really good people (like you!) through one of the most difficult times in their life. I love that and am very fulfilled by what I do. So, John, I wish you health, happiness, and good fortune in all your future endeavors. Godspeed!

Posted by Leslie | October 26, 2010 | Marriage & Prenuptials

Post Nuptial

Attorney Elizabeth made my experience simple and painless. After dealing with very evasive lawyers in the past, I found Attorney Elizabeth to be the most honest and straightforward person in her field. My Post Nuptial was completed in record time. Attorney Elizabeth gave me legal advice and even p...ut my agreement in electronic pdf format for safe keeping should I ever lose the original. I highly recommend her for any of your matrimonial documents or family post nuptials. Yours Truly, Leslie Flynn

Posted by Jennifer | September 24, 2009 | Child Abuse

Review of Attny Elizabeth Fondren

This attorney handled my child abuse,child custody and my divorce case and was incredibly successful in all 3.

See All Client Reviews

Elizabeth Diane Fondren's Lawyer Endorsements

Endorse Elizabeth
Jon Anthony Dieringer headshot
Jon Dieringer

Family lawyer | Jun 04

Relationship: Worked together on matter

"I endorse this lawyer, and recommend her for all family law matters. She is a pleasure to work with, friendly, diligent, professional and pays attention to detail. She is really a great family law attorney."

Suliman Jamal headshot
Suliman Jamal

Family lawyer | Apr 02

Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community

"Elizabeth is very knowledgeable in the area of family law. I endorse this lawyer."

Annette L Goudy headshot
Annette Goudy

Family lawyer | May 30

Relationship: Opposing Counsel on matter

"Elizabeth and I worked on opposites sides of a case. I found her to be professional and knowledgeable. We have since worked together on a couple of cases, and routinely call each other to bounce ideas off of each other. I would refer Elizabeth a family law case that I could not take without any concern and with the knowledge that the client would be handled with the utmost respect, professional courtesy and knowledge. I endorse this lawyer's work."

View All Endorsements
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Jon Dieringer

Litigation lawyer

Experience

Rating:  7.9 (Very Good)

Honors

2005

Outstanding Attorney Volunteer Mentor, VIP Mentors (a grassroots non-profit that pairs attorneys with parolees in an effort to curb the rate of recidivism)

2004

Outstanding Attorney Volunteer Mentor, VIP Mentors

Work Experience

2004 - Present

Attorney, Law Office of Elizabeth D. Fondren

2001 - 2004

Law Clerk/Attorney, Charton, Broker & Rovenger

1995 - 2000

Court Clerk, Orange County Superior Court

Associations

2001 - Present

State Bar of California

Member Attorney

Education

N/A

Trinity Law School

JD - Juris Doctor

Languages

English

Activity

Avvo Rating

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