Melissa Merritt Riska

Melissa Riska was the family law attorney hired after my son’s mother moved back to her home state. After six months/$4000, I’ve hired a different attorney, and I am literally at the same exact spot as when I walked into Owenby Law. I’ll make a brief list for those trying to skim reviews, with a full... explanation below that. 1. Ms. Riska took weeks to initiate contact and begin discussing my case. 2. Contacting Ms. Riska is difficult and drawn out. 3. After being my attorney for about a month, Ms. Riska was confusing me with other clients. 4. Bad/no counsel cost me months of progress, and hurt my case. Full explanation 1. After paying $3000 for a retainer, you’re told that a lawyer will call you within two days to conduct an initial assessment and begin your case. After a week of panic, I called back to check the status, they apologized and said Ms. Riska would call back that afternoon. She never called, but after a week and a half she did send an email. 2. It is impossible to get into contact with Melissa Riska during the day. She does email you back, at close of business, most weekdays. This drags out simple conversation, and allows her to charge you for each day. 3. I received an email from Melissa Riska in which she told me of her plan with my case. She began speaking of the concerns involving my military career. Well, I’m not in the military, and had no idea what she was talking about. 4. I told Ms. Riska of my intentions to hold off on taking my matter to court, because I wanted something else taken care of first. That my goal was to have the family court force my son’s mother to bring him back into the state. Melissa said ok, and to keep her updated. Months later, I was speaking to another attorney, and mentioned my plan. When he told me, “There was no way a judge would tell a grown woman to come back, and waiting is going to make you look bad.” I email Melissa Riska, she tells me that we’ve never been fighting for him to come back permanently, that this has been about me being able to fly him out more often. Then she has the nerve to tell me that I need to proceed soon, because the court isn’t going to look well on the fact that I’ve held off. Why she didn’t give me this counsel months earlier is something I’ll never understand. Also, since I held off, all documents had to be re-submitted. $4000 in, and Ms. Riska’s next step was for us to have a meeting and decide what to do. Which is where I fired her. I’m not sure if Melissa Riska is over-burdened with work, or just an incompetent attorney, but I wouldn’t recommend her to anyone outside of my son’s mother.

I found that throughout my case I was not getting enough information and felt I was overcharged for asking the same questions that were not being answered. Upon finalization I was told by my attorney that she would be in touch with details on how child support was to be arranged with the state and t...hat was over 3 months ago. If it were my client I would make sure they knew exactly what to expect, when to expect it and would follow-through. I would not make my client dig for the answers, that's the attorney's job and that's what they are payed so highly for. Especially since during a divorce there is enough distress already. The amount of money that is charged to settle this dispute should warrant a job that offers it's very best because you have someone's life in your hands. When your client is struggling with a life changing event that has affected them financially, emotionally and will continue on for years to come, it is extremely unfortunate that this is not taken into consideration. The process ended up being very disappointing and a hard, expensive lesson learned. I would not recommend this attorney.