Michael Albert Dedecker

When I first met Michael, he appeared a rather young and inexperienced man. I could not have been more wrong in my first impression. Although I did not make his job easy due to my having cooperated with Law Enforcement and giving a Full Confession, he was still able able to resolve my case with po...sitive results. He represented me to the best of his ability, and fought for my rights. A strong and confident lawyer, he knows where he's going and how to get there. He was honest with me throughout my case, and even told me there are no guaranteed outcomes (which, if I was a lawyer, I would certainly not boast to my clients about). Whether there was good news or bad, he kept me informed, never telling me all the "right words" or "exactly what I want to hear", but the plain and simple truth of the matter, the facts as they were. He was pretty easy to reach, and always took time to respond to my inquiries via e-mail, SMS, or a phone call. Sometimes it seemed as if he was overwhelmed with his caseloads, but he still took a time out to get back to me, even if it wasn't immediate. Personally, I hope I will never need his services again... but if I should, for whatever reason, I will not hesitate to call Michael DeDecker.

Not sure about Michael’s business, but his wife scammed me and sold me something online that was falsely advertised. When I asked for a refund she ignored me. I was never rude or disrespectful. She directed me to deal with her husband. I reached out to him and now he is enabling her fraud actions. Th...ey accused me of being hostile and a scary demeanor when I have screenshots of me being very nice and just wanting a refund for what they sold me not being what they advertised. He threatened me with a restraining order and to take legal civil action which is what is the route I have to go now because they kept my hard earned money. I tried buying a bed for my 3 year old daughter and now she is emotionally distressed due to his wife’s scamming. If he enables this type of scamming from his wife I can’t imagine how he runs a business. I did call the police and they advised I have a case for civil court. I feel it’s not even worth it but it’s the principal at this point. I am an honest person and he even told me I sound desperate. I guess I am but I’m honest and I’m a good person. Shame on them both!

We hired Mr. Dedecker for a legal guardianship case in Juvenile Dependency. While Mr. Dedecker is nice and professional, he is only worth hiring if you have an easy case. He isn't an attorney that will fight hard for you and go the distance. He isn't a trial attorney. We had to constantly beg and ...plead with him to address issues we were having. He didn't order the correct study we needed. He advised the day of trial, not to go to trial. If you don't go to trial, you can't appeal. After consulting with other attorneys, we are now aware of how badly our case was handled. We are truly sick of the outcome of our case. Also, please please be aware of attorneys who ask for an upfront retainer that is NOT returned to you if not used. Ask for an itemized bill. We truly regret hiring Mr. Dedecker.

We hired this guy to represent me and my partner as de facto parents. In the year and a half that this guy “represented” us, he continuously told us we had no legal standing in our daughter’s case. We repeatedly asked him to obtain court reports and minutes and every time he would tell us we weren’t ...entitled to them. He operates from a basis of limitations and misinformed us about dependency law. He told us there is no maximum amount of time that court ordered reunification can go, when California law clearly states a maximum time of 24 months. Even when the judge gave him the opportunity to ask questions or make statements on our behalf, he would refuse to do so stating “I have no legal standing.” This resulted in us losing our daughter who we raised since birth until she was nearly 3 years old and who had never spent a single day apart from us in that entire time. After we fired this guy, we found out from the county clerk that he never even filed the de facto parent order that had been granted to us by the judge. If he had done this, we would have automatically received copies of the documents which Mr. Decker told us we were not entitled to. It was as simple as us filling out a request form to receive all of these documents once we fired Mr. Dedecker. Our new attorney informed us that we do in fact have legal standing as an injured party in our daughters case, and unlike Mr. Dedecker our new attorney actually meets with us to collaborate and fights for our family the way I would expect a family law attorney to do. I strongly advise against trusting this guy with something as important as your family. I sure regret doing so.