Katrina Otto

I live in South Fl. I took in my nephews to prevent them from being a part of the foster care system. In taking in the children from Washington state, I discovered one of the children was being abused by his biological father. I had to take action to protect this child. Since the children were born i...n WA and the courts cases were establish in WA, it left me looking for an attorney in WA from FL. Initially Katrina was wonderful. She followed up with me after my free consultation. She listen to me and took on a complicated case. A mother in AZ, a Father in GA, a child from WA, and their Guardian in FL. The initial retainer was 3000. They demand a replenish fee after the retainer, of a min of 2000. When I initially spoke with Katrina I voiced how important it was to protect this child from abuse, but I did not agree with the replenishment fee. The case defiantly got complicated with all parties fighting me as a guardian of the child. This racked up my bill for sure. The biggest issue was Katrina not following up with me, or returning my calls, unless I emailed her with cap letters informing her it was the 2nd and or 3rd attempted of me trying to reach her. Let me WARN YOU...every single second will cost you. Katrina will not discuss anything with you, with out charging you. If you have a 5 min call with Katrina you will be charged her 250 an hour fee divided in 5 min it took to inform you of the case. Every email will cost you, and if the opposing party decided to drop of documents to Katrina, with out your consent, Katrina will review everything, charge you for the time it took her to review the documents, then inform you the documents provided. She will then charge you when you call with questions, and because the opposing party did not have council, she takes it upon her self to accept all documents and charge you for her time. Katrina knows the documents dropped off by the opposing party, non represented, were not filed to the courts and a moot point however, she still takes them in, and charges you for her time. She has allowed the opposing party to rack up my bill, even though she should be repressing me. Her para legal is 100 an hour, but Katrina makes sure she handles the admin work which will cost you double. Katrina should have denied all documents from the opposing party and allow them to either hire council, or represent themselves, but she did not. She left an open door policy for the opposing party to call her, email her and send documents to her, as I AM the one paying her bill. When we finally had the case to a hearing, through default of the opposing party not having council, we did gain temp custody of my nephews. However, two months after the case, I did not hear from Katrina once. I received another 2,000 invoice for many many fees that were not really to service me, but to take opposing information and charge me for it. Keep in mind I am receiving invoicing but I have not heard, in two months for Katrina. I asked to speak with Katrina on October 1, to see where we go from here. The after was suppose to pay child support to us as his guardians and he hasn't, Katrina never enforced it or followed up. However, she wants her 2000 bill paid and wants another 2000 to sit in the firms account for future services. Why would I ever do that when she can't even call me back, or follow up on the case??? Therefore, I informed her bookkeeper that I will pay the remainder owed in payments and I will not just let 2K sit in their account. Katrina received these concerns and emails, and NEVER picked up the phone to speak with me. Instead, she filed a withdrawal of representation to the courts, and sends me a copy of it!!!!! That all. No phone call nothing, she just decides to drop the case. I would have defiantly went with better council. After more research in dealing with Katrina, there are much better attorneys out there. I would NOT hire Katrina if you are looking for council.