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Castillo & Montes

5.0 (2 reviews)
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Updated 3 weeks ago

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Ask the Community - Castillo & Montes

Law Office Of Thurman W Arnold III - Michael C. Peterson, Esq., and TW Arnold

Law Office Of Thurman W Arnold III

(36 reviews)

A couple of months ago my former spouse and I engaged Thurman W. Arnold III to help us mediate a…read moredivorce settlement and help us write up the settlement and present it to the courts for approval and processing. We were attracted to this approach after reading multiple accounts from retired judges on the excessive cost, stress and psychological damage done by traditional adversarial approaches. As a management professional who has been trained in how to build win/win scenarios, this approach resonated with me. Likewise, the website's clarity in its intent to have all meetings be collaborative and the focus on protecting the more vulnerable party, resonated with my former partner. I am pleasantly surprised to report that the process not only met these expectations, but clearly exceeded them. The process, steps and timing were accurately described in the first meeting. The process was executed fairly and with great sensitivity and professionalism. This sensitivity included great sensitivity in working with same-sex couples like us, who have unique legal questions due to the newness of same-sex marriages. The settlement that we amicably reached was fair, protected both parties and preserved a 37 year friendship between me and my former spouse. It created the opportunity to get through the process, protect us both and not do additional damage to our friendship and by extension to our friends and family. When we came upon tricky accounting and tax questions Thurman brought in knowledgeable and helpful accounting professionals that had spot on, accurate and inciteful advice. The process, beginning to end, was four meetings across a couple of months. The fees were hourly based and was on a 'pay as your go' approach, so there were no invoicing surprises. The process started with software used by Thurman that helped make it highly efficient, so the billable hours charged were focused on our issues and resolution of our estate. The fees were transparent, and the billable hours were used in an efficient and effective manner. The sessions were friendly, respectful and compassionate and the settlement was fair and equitable. The only negative in the experience, was that it took a few weeks to get the initial meeting as his law practice is fairly busy, but it was well worth the wait for the initial session. I highly recommend this approach if it is a fit for your situation. At a minimum, I would explore an initial consult prior to going down the road to any other approach as long as there is an openness on both parties' sake to enter into a constructive dialogue on how to dissolve your marriage.

Michael Peterson really helped me through my custody case with my daughter. My case was very…read moredifficult, but he took the time and effort .He is very knowledgeable and is very responsive. I highly recommend Mr. Peterson for any family matters because he will walk you through everything and now I get to have time with my daughter thanks to Mike!

Mark D Gershenson

Mark D Gershenson

(2 reviews)

My experience with this lawyer/person was not a good one. He makes up his mind about things with…read moreout hearing all of the facts. He makes a ton of mistakes and when you point them out he first denies making a mistake. And when he realized that he did he charges you for the time it took to fix his mistakes. He is very argumentative, provided poor legal advice and charges an exorbitant amount for it. Had I listened to his advise that I was guilty of let him try to lesson the penalty. Of course I was not going to do that and got it dismissed on my own. I wasted the $500 initial consultation fee and another $250 for him to fix his mistakes after I fired him. He is ruthless so I paid just to get rid of this problem so my advice is do not contact this person and never talk to him, your wallet will thank you.

Here is my honest opinion of Mark's legal services: Mark is a highly educated, informed and…read morewell-versed attorney in the field of family law. He knows the rules inside and out and he has a very calm and cool demeanor. He is an avid writer who presents his arguments on paper very clearly and effectively. He represented me in my divorce over the course of 1.5 years and we were eventually able to settle out of court, in order to avoid a long, drawn-out and messy trial. Although the process was very stressful and expensive, I feel the end result was to my benefit in certain respects, given the family law court system is generally a free-for-all. That being said, there are a few things to watch out for when working with Mark in my personal opinion. First, read your retainer agreement carefully as he is a sole practitioner and for the most part, does all the work himself, including tasks traditionally belonging to a secretary, paralegal or otherwise, and he charges his full rate for those tasks. The bills add up quickly. Additionally, since he lacks support staff to review his work, besides his secretary, it is imperative you review all your documents and motions for accuracy before signing them to be filed with the Court. Any mistakes can quickly catch up to you and cause great damage down the line and in turn, cost you tens of thousands of dollars. After having lost a major pre-trial motion in my case which nearly doubled the amount of temporary support I had to pay, I felt forced to hire another attorney to act as co-counsel in order to verify and double-check all of Mark's work and advice. Without the second attorney acting as a fail-safe, I would not have been comfortable continuing the process with Mark on his own. Given it was a year into the divorce, it would have been very costly to completely replace Mark with a new attorney and get him/her caught up with the entire case. Nevertheless, as I mentioned, be very aware of the legal strategies and documents you are presented and take the time to read through everything thoroughly before signing off on it. Second, while Mark is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to the law, his in-court demeanor is very relaxed and he is quite soft-spoken, and as a result, he can be seen as too passive at times, especially when opposing counsel is throwing a fit and putting on a show. One would think that when one is in court, the law is what matters, but sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the oil. That being said, eventually the law prevails over the in-court antics of opposing counsel. Third, in my opinion,if you are a client that pays all your bills on time and that pays your temporary support on time, you will be viewed as a steady source of income for not only your attorney, but the opposing attorney as well. In my experience, it felt like there was an unspoken rule between the attorneys to drag out my case as long as possible given I always paid my bills on time (I had to pay for opposing counsel's fees as well) and they had no trouble collecting their fees. But like I said, that is the feeling I had during a very stressful and financially draining period of time between the start and end of the divorce. In the end, I learned that a hasty decision can end up costing you tens of thousands of dollars if you do not hire the right attorney and you must make the time to thoroughly participate in your case and review all the work done by your attorney. This may be counter-intuitive given you are paying the attorney to do the job, but in the end, nobody cares about your case or life more than you. All in all, carefully consider all your options before making a decision on who to hire.

Salvatore Bommarito Attorney At Law

Salvatore Bommarito Attorney At Law

(8 reviews)

Our relationship started in April 2024 with initial contact with Parker Stewart , Salvatore…read moreBommarito's assistant. Very pleasant and things started out well and we had an in office visit a few day later. Sal was pleasant, we talked about our defamation defense, wine, golf and other things. We asked Sal if we should respond to the letter from the prosecutor's office but were advised to wait and see if things escalate. We took his advise. Things then escalated and after a few emails with Parker we were advised their trial calendar was very busy and to contact one of Sal's "colleagues". I then sent what turned out to be the final email asking if said colleague was going to be brought up to speed on our case without a cost to us. After this we were ghosted. I would recommend you do your homework, I obviously did not do enough myself. This obviously is not in his wheelhouse and I was asking for results.

Overall I had a fantastic experience with Sal and his assistant Parker. I consulted with several…read moreattorneys before ultimately deciding to go with Sal at the recommendation of a friend. It was one of the best decisions I have made in a long time. Overall the outcome was exactly what I was looking for and nothing less. Realistically, given the situation is was actually the best possible outcome for all parties involved. The opposing party even went as far as to ask me to thank Sal for helping us reach the outcome we did. 10/10 would recommend Sal for anything family law or real estate related!

Castillo & Montes - divorce - Updated May 2026

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