Matthew James Sundly

My wife and I hired Mr. Sundly after interviewing several other attorneys in the area and highly recommend him. Our family law case had a few special wrinkles that required a knowledgeable attorney with the ability to tolerate a heavy dose of abuse from the opposing party. Through some very challen...ging circumstances, Mr. Sundly was able to move the process forward and arrive at the appropriate outcome. In fact, Mr. Sundly was so effective that the opposing party has taken to trolling him on social media and review boards which is unfair but is a ringing endorsement of his abilities and effectiveness. We would absolutely hire him again.

I was privileged to have worked with Matthew during my divorce. He smoothly transitioned to being my point of contact once my case shifted out of discovery and into litigation. I hadn't yet interacted with Matthew so I was hesitant to make this transition but once I met and talked with him all hesita...tion vanished. In a very professionally friendly manner, he demonstrated intimate knowledge of my case and took time explaining next steps. He made himself available and all times adding an additional layer of comfort and assurance. There were multiple occasions I called him on his cell and he either answered or returned the call in a very timely manner. Matthew is brilliant when it comes to family law knowledge and is an expert communicator. He articulated my defense in a positive way and interacted with the other attorneys in a highly respectful and friendly manner. His relationships with his peers and judge is extremely respectable. Not only is Matthew an excellent communicator he is amazingly gifted when it comes to facts and figures allowing him to counsel me on difficult decisions. Above all, I admire Matthew's direct, swift, friendly demeanor. He is an intelligent, charismatic, polished, confident attorney who is responsible for my equitable, pleasing judgement. Matthew know his law, knows his case, knows the court system and all involved, and works relentlessly on behalf of his client.

I initially hired an attorney who was not as focused on difficult custody situations so I found myself in a position to find a new attorney and the firm where Matthew Sundly works came highly recommended. He immediately jumped in and brought a level of confidence and genuine care to my family situat...ion. Divorce is hard. I am glad to have had Matt and his team supporting me through the process.

My son was born in June 2015. His mother and I were not in a relationship when we discovered that we were soon to be first-time parents (relatively young: ages 26, 28), though we had previously been in a relationship three months prior (which I ended). The context of my child custody case involves a ...mother that began demonstrating patterns of sequestering our child, which was in response to me not having a desire to rebuild a relationship or marry her. Prior to this behavior, our child's mother and I lived in the same household, and I was the sole caretaker of him while his mother worked 12.5 hour evening shifts approximately 3 nights per week (sometimes as often as 4 nights per week). I was proficient in all areas of caretaking: feedings, baths, diaper changes, night time crying, play time, etc. However, when his mother began to realize that I did not want to marry her, she moved to her grandma's residence, which is approximately 50 miles from my residence and easily a 2-hour one-way commute in Southern California traffic. This clearly was a disruption to the status quo, so I researched family law firms in Orange County. I had an initial 1-hour strategy session with Farzad Family law and ultimately retained the firm. Mr. Sundly and the entire Farzad staff were and continue to be immensely helpful in the legal process. The petition was served to his mother in November 2015, and the request for order was prepared towards the end of December 2015. For a period of nearly 7 weeks spanning January - February 2016, our son's mother demonstrated extremely toxic behavior and essentially allowed me no contact with our son. This was both a very hurtful and very stressful season, but Mr. Sundly and the Farzad staff guided me along the way, ultimately to our Request for Order hearing held in mid-March 2016. The result of the hearing was an order geared to revert to the status quo; specifically, the presiding judge ordered that I be able to have unsupervised time with our young child 2 weekday overnight visits (10 hours each while his mom is working) and Saturdays Noon - 6 PM, for a total of 26 hours per week. Though this is nowhere near the amount of time I had been able to see our son in the past, I view this order to be a significant step in the right direction, particularly due to the fact that I am able to have ordered unsupervised contact despite the tender age of our son. The order is designed to be a temporary order (6-9 months), and we will likely be revisiting the case in early 2017. What most impresses me about Mr. Sundly is I felt he had full command of the court room during our hearing. Namely, he demonstrated confidence and was very articulate in providing the judge and opening statement and thorough background of the case. Further, it was clear that Mr. Sundly had a deep understanding of California family law and clout in the County of Orange court system by the respect I perceived the judge to have of him. Lastly, and arguably most importantly, I appreciate the ways in which Mr. Sundly and the entire staff have supported me through this difficult transition. As a client, I truly feel as though Mr. Sundly has my best interest in mind. He can see that I am a father that genuinely and desperately wants to be involved in my son's life, and is working to make that desire a reality. There were times in this process that my emotions ran high, and the release of my stress was aimed towards the wrong parties. Yet Mr. Sundly and the Farzad staff helped me take a step back, reevaluate the situation, keep a level head and laser focus towards the long-term goal of overcoming the behavior of an unreasonable mother represented by a toxic attorney.