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Here is a table with estimated fees and costs associated with various issues and services in the area:
Issue/Service | Attorney Cost | Court Fees |
---|---|---|
Divorce | $1,500 | $350 |
Child Custody | $2,500 | $200 |
Child Support | $1,000 | $100 |
Visitation Rights | $1,200 | $150 |
Modification of Orders | $1,800 | $250 |
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You can call (419) 526-2301 or visit this lawyers at 44 Park Ave W Mansfield, OH 44902. Find the right lawyer to handle your law case!
You do not want this attorney. According to what I found on the internet about his education, he received a law degree in 1973, almost 50 years ago… so he’s about 75+ years old. But don’t let “with age comes experience” allow you to believe he’ll be a good attorney. That’s what I thought, I was wrong. Also with age, comes dementia. I’m writing several reviews per incident since I’m limited on characters.
He’s a divorce attorney… and has been doing it for God only knows how many years. I filed for divorce and custody of my at the time 1.5 year old son (later to find he’s autistic). I’m on SSI. At our divorce hearing, this attorney calculated my now ex-wife’s child support using my SSI income and her income. A year and a half later during and while in court, my ex-wife’s child support was being re-calculated and again, this attorney uses my SSI income for the calculation. Upon finishing the calculation, the judge had to tell this attorney in front of everyone in court, that SSI isn’t used in the calculation of child support. What? He’s been a divorce attorney for years and he didn’t know that or had forgotten? So, from the time my ex-wife’s child support was originally set until that day in court, since this attorney originally calculated in my SSI when it wasn’t suppose to be, how much child support did my son miss out on because this attorney didn’t know or had forgotten that SSI isn’t calculated in with child support? What’s more, how many clients of his were/are on SSI and had their SSI income calculated in with their child support when it isn’t suppose to?
My ex-wife has visitation rights ONLY. She received a stimulus payment for hers and my son. Visitation rights only, not the rights to do guardianship duties like manage our son’s money. I get with this attorney to take her to court about stimulus monies and about medical insurance. The day of the pretrial, Zoom which is how the pretrial was being conducted, was malfunctioning so the pretrial was done over the phone. This attorney, a magistrate, and my ex-wife were on the phone where she admitted she received ours son’s stimulus money. With no compromise, the case was referred to mediation. A court document for the referral to mediation was created, and it stated “…money received by the Defendant on behalf of the minor child” among other things. In mediation, my ex-wife again admits to receiving the stimulus money and that she wasn’t going to part with any of it. After a year of waiting and finally to trial, my ex-wife then tells the court she didn’t receive it, and this attorney, even though she told him and a magistrate that she did receive it, he accepted her statement not asking about why she previously stated she had received it. A few days later when this attorney presents me the paperwork to sign regarding what we went to court for, even though all causes were a win, I tell him I’m not going to sign it because of the document’s wording and that she lied about not receiving one of the stimulus payments; I refreshed his memory of the pretrial and what she told him and the magistrate. He told me, “Find me proof.” Not even a week’s time, I give to him the document the court created to have the case referred to mediation… you know the document that stated “…money received by the Defendant on behalf of the minor child.“ It’s the same document this attorney already had in his folder of my cases. Had he taken a better look (presuming he did look) at those documents of this case on or before court that day, he would have remembered my ex-wife telling everyone she received it. But since he apparently had forgotten because he said nothing to her when she claimed she didn’t receive it, safe to presume, most likely he didn’t look (very well) at the case records before court. I then wait to hear from him about what can be done with the evidence I gave to him, that he requested. I waited, and I waited, and I waited. Finally after 5 weeks, I send a message to him inquiring. A week later, I get an email stating we’re going back to court and when. That day finally arrives, we’re in court, and the ex-wife continues with her story that she didn’t receive our son’s stimulus. But this time, she’s showing her tax return that claimed our son as a dependent (which was valid), but the deduction amount was the same as one of the amounts of the stimulus money. When she showed this attorney that, to me he acted like “case closed” she doesn’t have to pay. This court day lasted 5 minutes. My ex-wife is not smart (she’ll tell you that herself), she was unrepresented, and even though she told this attorney and the magistrate that she received it, even though the court document stated “…money received by the Defendant on behalf of the minor child,” even though she told the mediator she received it… this attorney was so lame that day… he didn’t follow up asking her any questions like, “I understand what you’re showing me in your tax return. Child deductions are not what we’re discussing. We’re discussing stimulus payments which have nothing to do with your taxes. Did you receive a check specifically for the amount of $X for your son?” or “Why did you tell your ex-husband, the court/magistrate, the mediator, and me that you received your son’s stimulus check?” He asked nothing. This attorney got beat by someone unrepresented, who will tell you herself she’s not very smart. This attorney couldn’t have had anymore than an hour’s time invested on this case… and he charged $500. And, even though everything I took her to court for I won, I get a bill in the mail for court costs. I told him the day of the pretrial, “She needs to pay court cost like she had to with our divorce” and he said “Well, yeah” and “that goes along with a win” (I could be mistaken with the second quote; he moved his head down and started talking in the direction of the floor, he was mumbled). So out of the $900 I was able to recover, $626 of it went to costs. A year of waiting and aggravation for $274.
Still not convinced this isn’t the attorney you need? Wait, there’s more! From the time my ex-wife got visitation September 2020 until January 2022, more so than not, when my son went to visit with his mother every other weekend, he’d come home sick… 4 times the sickness resulted in ear infections. After months of not getting anywhere with her on why he’s getting sick and how to stop it, I finally reached this attorney telling him what’s going on and that I want to take her to court to temporarily stop her visitation until we can figure out what’s making him sick. He said okay and that he’ll get back to me, but he never did. I contacted him more than once by email and stopping by the office. In October 2021, after my son getting his second ear infection within 1 month and with no help from this attorney, I had no choice but to not allow my son to go to visitation to his mother’s house because of the reoccurring sicknesses he’d come home with, and that she wasn’t helping in trying to figure out what was making him sick. His mother then makes a 4 hour round trip just to tell me she contacted the police and she’s taking me to court, which was a lie. So I take to this attorney a letter I had emailed to my ex-wife before her visitation, which read that I wasn’t allowing her to take our son back to her house, why, and what she needed to do to resume visitation at her place; I did give her the option to visit locally, just not at her house. Not getting help from this attorney even though he told me more than once he’d get back with me, my son having 2 ear infections within a month’s time… something needed to break. I told my ex-wife if she did something to try to help the sickness, she could resume visitation at her house so she bought 2 air purifiers. That didn’t help my son from getting sick. Since this attorney kept just putting me off letting me know he’d get back with me instead of saying, “I don’t want to mess with this,” after almost 6 months of waiting on him, in January 2022 I hired another attorney who I explained the problem and showed my evidence to. This new attorney wrote a letter to my ex-wife, she did something and my son hasn’t returned sick from visitation since. Had this attorney gotten back with me as he said he would more than once, this sickness thing based on what did happen, could possibly have ended months prior to my having to hire another attorney.
If my experiences with this attorney aren’t enough to convince you to avoid using him, then at least do this for yourself. Do not give him a retainer for more than what he asks. Also, make sure you get a billing statement each month to see where your money he’s holding of yours goes/is spent on. I didn’t, and had to finally ask for it well past the end of my divorce.