First, I would like to state that I have never posted a negative review about anyone or anything online before. Truly, this is a "first" for me. I agonized over the decision whether to retain my own attorney or just pay half of my ex-wife's attorney fees since we were in complete agreement on our parenting/custody plan for our kids. Due to some unfortunate circumstances and threats from my ex-wife I felt completely vulnerable and un-represented and Ms. Hightower came highly recommended from a very prominent office within the local judicial system. I formally retained Tracy Hightower, partner of Hightower-Reff Law, on August 29, 2019 to represent my interests in my divorce.
Prior to my consultation, a member of her staff (Dulcie) emailed me two packets of information to be filled out and returned prior to my consultation with Tracy. These packets of information were a combined total of 12 pages long. I completed and returned the paperwork ahead of our first meeting/initial consultation. My first impressions of her were that of professionalism and possessing a high level of intelligence and confidence. I immediately felt relieved. The kind of relief that I had not felt for many months. I did notice that she was asking me questions that were included in the packets of paperwork that I filled out and returned ahead of our meeting. She did not have either packet of information and did not know where it was. Initially, this did not bother me because she was so highly recommended and my first impressions of her were so positive. She did tell me that she was scheduled to be out of the office for a week from September 9-13 so she would make sure to have the "Entry of Appearance" and the "Response and Counterclaim" filed as it was approaching the deadline for me to respond to the initial divorce complaint filed by the opposing counsel. It was after this that things began to go off the rails. Both attorneys made many mistakes and omissions in the parenting plan. Mistakes and omissions that 2 seasoned attorneys should not make. The court is very specific about what it requires in these plans and cannot be filed until it includes exactly what the court demands. Every time a new draft of the parenting was created or changed, we were charged for the time worked, including phone calls between attorneys, of course.
On more than one occasion I provided Ms. Hightower with all requested financial documents so that she could review them and provide them to opposing counsel. She claimed that she never saw them. I should note, all email correspondence always included her paralegal, Linda. By that time, we had reached the beginning of October and I found out from my ex-wife that her attorney had yet to receive the parenting plan with my signature nor had they received my financial docs . This is when I discovered that my ex-wife's attorney and paralegal had made repeated requests by phone and email, all of which were either missed or ignored by Tracy and her paralegal for more than 3 weeks. I seriously could not believe this was the attorney and firm that came so highly recommended. Mistakes continued, emails were lost, and requests from opposing counsel/paralegal continued to be missed or ignored. I then started to find out from my ex-wife exactly what her attorney needed so I could go back to my absent attorney and push the process forward. How was this my job? Why did I have to talk to my ex about what HER attorney was needing. This was both disheartening and discouraging. I was paying $275/hour for this? It's safe to say that our divorce got even worse because of this. In the end, I was faced with paying half of my ex-wife's attorney fees. In truth, I could have refused, but it was made clear to me that the fight would continue and cost me more money that I didn't have. I just wanted it over so I agreed to pay half of my ex-wife's attorney fees. I could not rely on Ms. Hightower to adequately represent me so I cut my losses. In truth, my ex-wife's attorney did 90% of the work and mine got a decent payday for making some phone calls and filing a few things. In total, I paid about $3600 for an UNCONTESTED divorce. I know some may think this is cheap for a divorce, but for someone like me who works two jobs this is a lot money.
When the day finally arrived for me to sign the divorce decree I went to the law office and stood at the front counter, signing each page. After signing, I left and drove back to work. I then had to return on two more occasions because there were documents they failed to have me sign. Why couldn't this just end? I would strongly discourage anyone from retaining Tracy Hightower. I consider myself to be a reasonable person, but how I was represented was shameful. I was already going through one of the most difficult processes a person can go through and my attorney simply did not care. read more
