Joseph A. Rehyansky

I was in grad school taking three summer courses in a master's program for secondary education when my bitter ex-husband blind-sided me with a very low legal blow. In fact, i was home alone at my computer working on an assignment on a monday morning when a strange man arrived at my doorstep with a s...tack of court documents. The strange man officially served me a temporary restraining order, which prevented me from seeing my eleven-year-old son and five-year-old daughter. My child support was immediately suspended, I had to submit a court-ordered, hair-follicle drug test within five days, I had ten days to prepare for an emergency hearing to modify custody, my ex-husband was represented by one of the best family law attorneys in our county, and I was then living primarily on student loans--meaning, I was quite broke. After failing to convince three different attorneys to accept all of my jewelry as payment for representation, I called one of my dearest former university professors who very kindly put me in contact with Joe just two days before the court hearing. He agreed to meet with me, and after getting to the heart of the matter of my case very directly and quickly, he accepted $1 and nothing less than my utter honesty to him and the court in return for representation. On the day of the hearing, he met me at the courthouse with all the necessary information and paperwork, and he was absolutely brilliant in the courtroom. In every exchange between everyone in the room, Joe protected my integrity not just as a mother but also as a woman, a citizen, and as a human being. Again I will say, he was brilliant. He restored my faith in a lot of things having to do with our legal system and the possibility of there being a God. We won the case. The original parenting plan was readopted by the court, and my kids came home that afternoon. I have yet to find words that express the thanks in my heart for Joe Rehyansky.