From our initial consultation, I made it clear that I wanted the traditional parenting schedule,…read moreand nothing less. He told me that "No judge in Kane County would do 50/50." I believed him, and so I hired him.
I ended up getting only one more day during the week than my kids' father, and their school weeks are split directly in half.
I don't know when it happened or why, but somewhere along the line, he sided with my ex. He made careless mistakes and recommended a Guardian ad Litum (GAL) who didn't favor the traditional parenting schedule he knew I wanted.
I blindly took his recommendation on this GAL, because I assumed he (as my paid legal counsel) was on my side and would fight for what I wanted - what I knew was the right thing for my kids, considering certain aspects of the case ¬- and I trusted him.
In the beginning, I thought he was great; I really liked him. I knew right away he had a strong presence and I wanted that, because I wanted him to fight for me, not against me.
I believe the consequence of his recommended GAL's decision is a direct result of Attorney Williams' malpractice and errors in judgment, and now, my children's lives are adversely affected for the rest of their childhoods by such a disruptive routine.
And, when I confronted him with his words that he told me ... "No judge in Kane County would do 50/50," his reply to me was, "Well, you don't have 50/50, you have 1 more night."
So, on top of this terrible situation for my kids, other things he's done were:
* Sent an email to opposing counsel, carelessly exposing to my then-husband that I had been logging his actions, which could have been very dangerous, had he been a violent man.
* He advised me to agree to the GAL's "temporary" (at the time) parenting schedule proposal, which I absolutely did NOT want to agree to, which ended up being a HUGE mistake, because she ended up making it permanent. He advised me to agree to it saying that it was "good deal," falsely assuring me it "could look very different in the end."
* He rarely, if ever, informed me of court outcomes, discussions with GAL, correspondence with opposing counsel, or what his strategy was, if he even had one.
* He verbally insulted me to my face in my meeting with him on Friday, June 23, 2017, when I asked him why the GAL was wanting another meeting with us saying, "Because you're both f-g nuts."
He went on to accuse me of wanting my ex to fail, that I was looking for every opportunity for him to fail, and that it was a "new era" and I "have to accept it" (regarding not getting the traditional parenting schedule).
* After that incident, I obtained new counsel, and she discovered that he never secured in the agreement the half childcare expenses that my ex should have legally been paying in the Court Order, but only a "friendly agreement behind chambers." This mistake delayed our case an entire year with my ex fighting paying his half of the children's expenses.
Ultimately, it's not the lies and insults that drove me to speak out like this, since that sort of behavior just rolls off my back, but it's the utter betrayal of what I wanted for my children that didn't happen, and the effect this schedule has had and continues to have on their lives and wellbeing that is unforgivable in my book.
In the two-year course of my case, there have been a total of six other divorce cases in this state take place in my social circle alone with every single one of them having the traditional parenting schedule or better (i.e., more stable).
All he had to do was advocate for me and give me the advice I needed to protect my kids by getting that traditional parenting schedule I came to him seeking help to achieve.
I trusted him.
Turned out, he is lackadaisical and only concerned with father's rights, not what's in the child(ren)'s best interests.
The one thing he did right was cooperate with my current lawyer on the information she needed to finalize my case. Other than that, I hope I never see his face again. I will never forgive him for what he's had a hand in happening to my children's lives. Ever.