Christina C. Van Ness

When I decided to finally leave a very controlling husband after being married for 21 years, I contacted several lawyers in the Walnut Creek area. My case was somewhat difficult since we had been married in Germany and there was a post-nuptial agreement involved. The case was further complicated by... the fact that the opposing side was not cooperating at all and so it turned out to become a bitter divorce. When I called the law firm O’Brien and Sullivan, Christina Van Ness picked up the phone and gave me clear and well-founded advice about how best to deal with my particular situation and she was willing to take my case. From the beginning Christina worked tirelessly on my case as if I were her only client, though she had other cases at the same time. She was always available by phone, email and in person whenever I needed to get in touch with her and would always get back to me in time, often even after hours or on weekends. Since my case involved international and German law, she had to contact lawyers in Germany and literally was involved in my case around the clock. Christina is very knowledgeable and she covered all bases from nuptials to international law and in particular German family law, contracting with and securing experts in this field from a law firm in Munich, Germany and their office in Miami, Florida as well as another California expert and a court approved translator in Southern California to make sure to present my unusual case clearly and correctly to the judge. The opposing counsel kept filing erratic motions just to keep us busy and to discourage me from going through with the divorce, e.g. she scheduled all of my German in-laws to appear in court to testify just hear-say against me and was even going to put my teenage daughter on the witness stand, something I could not allow. This created enormous pressure for me and I have to admit I almost lost it. I really felt Christina was not only on my side but she also respected my wishes, namely to save my daughter from what would have been a terrible experience for her. Christina said she would never do something like that and that this was highly inappropriate to do. I knew I could trust her and simply follow her advice. We won every segment in the legal process that we had to go through and we were able to settle the day before the actual court date which had been scheduled on a Monday morning at 8:00 am. Christina worked on the settlement proposal with the opposing lawyer all weekend and until after midnight before that court date to get this done. I’d also like to point out that Christina Van Ness and Ed Sullivan work very closely together on their individual cases in their firm and so I had the advantage of having Ed’s expertise of more than 20 years of family law experience also contributing to my case. Both Christina and Ed are trustworthy lawyers of high integrity and ethical standard. I recommend Christina Van Ness and Ed Sullivan to all my friends and anyone who needs a divorce lawyer.