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Dewitt Family Law

Family law attorney in Yorba Linda, CA
Reviews: 3 | Overal Rating: Bad
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Reviews

Review Left On 03/02/2020
Eric Petrus

I hired Steven in September 2012 to represent me in a divorce. I retained Steven as my attorney, as he appeared to be a man of values and integrity. I informed Steven, at time of retaining him, that my goal was to quitclaim title of community property home to my spouse and, in return, the expectation was to have me removed from existing loan, in addition to title. I expected the terms of the divorce decree to include legal protections to protect my interests. What I received in the end was, well, no protections. I attempted to reach out to Steven by both email (on April 4, 2014), as well as phone (left message with his receptionist/legal assistant). I received no call back, email, or letter. I reached out again by email on April 30, 2015, followed by another call to his office, after no response back from him. My attempts were futile. I had hired a new attorney to fight for custody of my children, among other things, after my divorce was finalized. I had interviewed several attorneys at that point to replace Steven, as he expressed no interest in me/failed to respond or communicate with me at the time. Not one attorney interviewed wanted to assist in 'cleaning up his mess' regarding the house. You see, the divorce decree merely indicated I was to be 'held harmless from any encumbrances'. Steven recently reached out to me to try to address this, after prior negative review was posted, but the damage was already done. After three follow up hearings to try to address with the court, the judge verbally 'admonished' ex for not doing enough then went on to state that my 'divorce decree was left vague and unenforceable'. In other words, not worth the paper it was written on as it did not indicate an action to take (i.e. timeline to complete loan assumption, refinance or sale of home nor did it include verbiage on enforcement action court can take if failure to abide by terms). To make matters worse, Steven recently acknowledged that he didn't even draft the decree that was entered into court, but rather allowed opposing counsel to do. Kudos to opposing counsel for slipping unfavorable terms to me, past what was supposed to be my legal safety net, Steven. There were other issues with language in the decree (unfavorable child support terms against me that went beyond minimum state required calculation, for example, and failure to make suggestions on how I could seek reimbursement on recent inheritance I had received and deposited to community bank account just weeks before retaining him). Bottom-line: Steven receives an 'F' from me for ‘failure’ to properly address my needs. It appears that Steven just wanted to collect a paycheck in my initial divorce, as he didn't suggest edits to opposing counsel nor to me. Since then, and after an initial negative review was posted, he has 'offered' to 'brainstorm' on how to resolve, but not actually offer any way to 'correct things'. I even presented Steven with copies of my two emails to his office that went unanswered, but despite this, he has gone on to attempt to discredit my honest review. As in any legal matter, the truth will always prevail. It is unfortunate for this attorney that the truth hurts. Again, judge indicated there's nothing he could do with divorce decree that was written and entered as judgment on my behalf, same with attorneys that came after Steven. As an attorney, he hides behind his faith and uses his religion as an excuse for his incompetence. Beware, as a poor divorce decree entered with the court by poor representation will come back to haunt you. It's like gospel...once entered and on record with court, you're damned to try to challenge it. There are other attorneys that will be more detail-oriented in their representation of you. It is my recommendation by my experience with numerous attorneys, that one think twice or give it much thought in hiring an attorney who uses God as a selling point for his services. Choose wisely upfront. Accordingly, I cannot recommend the services of Steven DeWitt. I rate him an 'F' for 'FAILURE'.
Review Left On 03/02/2018
dreamer22611

Used DeWitt two years ago, i don't agree with the other reviews. Office was nice office people were a big help. No problems, divorce was fast.
Review Left On 03/02/2017
Greg

I don't recommend. The below ratings are for Steve and his main assistant also.

Communicating- 1 star
Polite- 1 star, sometimes better, depends on the day, especially if you're new
Keeping track of your case- 1 star
Negotiating- 3 stars
Keeping the process moving- 1 star
Experience- 4 stars
Knows the law- 4 stars
Filling out the legal papers correctly- 3 stars

Steve is a good guy but he doesn't keep track of your case. He wants you to keep track of it, and if you don't then it might not happen. If he asks you what is going on with your case and you ask him why he doesn't know then he gets upset. If he asks you a question you already talked about before and you don't like that then he gets upset. His main assistant is sometimes irritated with you and both of them have trouble responding to you when you write, and they act like it is your fault for writing and expecting them to respond. A lot of the legal papers had mistakes. The workload there is probably too much for them to keep track of. But I don't think that's any excuse to treat customers like that. I have not met an attorney before who talks to a client like that. At least it is over but I would not go to him again, and do not recommend him.

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