Ted D. Billbe

The 1 star review was posted by my exwife's mother in law. She did not understand that my ex and I wanted to save travel time and expense so we had Ted file in king county. Neither her or I wanted a change of venue or to have a bad review for Mr. Billbie. We are now divorced, and are both happy ...with the terms of our divorce. Mr Billbie explained and handled everything in a fair and understandable manner. He explained how it wpild all go, explained some possible alternative outcomes and for every problem he provided a solution. Everything went as smooth as it could have. I would highly recommend him to anyone who is in need of an attorney.

He filed our divorce case in the wrong county when neither party nor the children resided in King County. This caused opposing party to file to change venue and additional fees on my case. Additionally, the Petition for Dissolution mentioned an agreed upon Separation agreement, but that was not attac...hed to the petition. Opposing party was never properly served Summons and Petition either. Other standard documents were never filed (Financial Declaration and such). This is going to cause the divorce to be dragged out with additional costs.

Divorce is difficult, no matter the circumstances. And as much as we may hope to sever all ties with our ex-spouse, chances are there will always be some ties after the divorce. So keeping the divorce simple, fair, and cordial has long-term benefits. During a very difficult time in my life, Te...d was effective helping me move through key decisional items. He was very good at answering questions, setting priorities, and preparing and turning documents. I was super impressed with Ted's responsiveness, as well as that of his team. There were a few times when thorny topics arose with my ex-spouse, and Ted responded to my inquiries immediately (once in the late evening and on a weekend). Ted was recommended by some lawyers that I highly respect. I had interviewed some other top divorce attorneys in Seattle, and I was reassured when I met with him. He didn't try to torque me up, nor make me feel overly belligerent toward my spouse like some other attorneys did. I wanted to try to work collegially through the divorce, in order to put it behind me as quickly as possible and emerge with as few battle wounds as possible. But I also wanted an attorney that could get tough on my behalf if the negotiations turned sour. And lastly, I was looking for someone highly experienced. Ted struck a good balance of looking out for my interests, while working well with the opposition. He was solution-oriented, which I appreciated. Going into the process, I had been very concerned. He helped me with division of complex assets and some unusual issues. At the end, I ended up with a fair settlement with minimal pain and within a short period of time. I highly recommend Ted's services. He has dealt with many different circumstances and he is very professional.

I hired Ted 2 years after my divorce to deal with ongoing issues with my very difficult x-wife. He was recommended as a lawyer who was extremely knowledgeable about the King county family court and would not put me through needless ligation. He lived up to that expectation. He helped to navigate me t...hrough some hard situations with favorable outcomes. He always gave me the option of doing as much as I wanted on my own in order to save on legal fees, with good guidance along the way. I had to deal with court situations and arbitration and I always felt that I could trust him.

I hired Ted to help me with enforcement of some of the terms of my separation agreement a couple of years after I obtained my divorce. Our initial meeting was a consultation where he gave me steps I could try to take myself to move things forward with minimal cost. I later hired him to move a difficu...lt process forward to conclusion. I felt that Ted was sensitive to my situation, both my financial position and my ability to contribute to the process and provide input. In this way he helped me keep costs down and adapted to the approach I was comfortable with based on the options he laid out. Ted doesn't mess around or waste time, he is quick to act. When we decided what to do at each stage he did not delay, he did so immediately. For example when I was meeting with him in his office and we decided to communicate something to the other party's lawyer, he did so right at that moment, concisely and effectively. He was so attentive that he would often see and reply to emails from the other party's lawyer before I had even seen the original email arrive, whether in or out of office hours. Ted also ensured I was in the loop on every communication that happened. Ted has experience in using the arbitration process (as required in my settlement) and made the appropriate filings and submissions with the information needed to ensure a ruling in my favor, as well as exhibiting intimate knowledge of law and procedure (for example, indicating why respondent's claim of incorrect serving of papers was an invalid claim). Ted clearly works very hard and with dedication and I hope he schedules in some good vacation time to recharge. He is obviously doing a job he believes in and is passionate about because you don't reach the level of knowledge, skill and compassion he has if you just phone it in. I think he has great problem-solving skills - seeing a situation, understanding the motivations and likely behaviors of those involved, and using his legal tools and knowledge to devise a solution. My only regret is that I didn't know Ted when originally negotiating my divorce, because I believe his help would have ensured I didn't have the problems I did further down the line.