Avoid using Sheila Ridgway
We were looking or a TEDRA "expert". Sheila Ridgway has a prolific internet presence, and that is all. We trusted Sheila Ridgway with our TEDRA case and that was our mistake. First of all, she has no physical office address other than her condo on Capital Hill or her deceased parent's home in La Connor, WA. Whenever we asked to meet with her in person, our request could never be accommodated. Her paralegal Melida Heien is located in "Floyds Knobs Indiana"
Sheila seems to be disoriented at times. We posted documents to her website as requested on August 6, 2026. On August 17, 2026 she sent an email confirming that based on what we provided; "she could confirm there was a Trust". On September 16, 2026, she told us on the phone that "she wasn't sure if there was a trust" and claimed to have never received the documents we had uploaded to her website on August 6, 2026. She is either confused, senile or just stupid. I do know that she was rude on the telephone and not willing to explain or guide us through the TEDRA process. At times, I felt I knew more about TEDRA than Ms. Ridgway did.
She allowed 35 days to pass between the time she sent a "demand letter" to the successor trustee; for which she charged $700 for a one-page letter and drawing up a petition. We had to push her to open a petition with the court. The petition was not even drafted until well after the 15 days the successor trustee had to produce the trust.
The petition was not filed until October 2, 2026. Shiela Ridgway misled the opposing council by telling them she had filed the petition in court on October 1, when in fact it was filed on October 2. Ms. Ridgway then followed up with an email to that same council that "we had not filed anything".
When the successor trustee's attorney started sending disparaging information about us to Ms. Ridgway, she did nothing to defend our position of "simply requesting copies of the trust and will".
Our October 2 filing was then removed because Ms. Ridgway did not pay the $290 filing fee to the Clark County Superior Court. I only found this out by checking the courts website and by calling the Clark County Superior Courts Clerk. Ms. Ridgway did not tell us that she pulled the filing. When we sent a very angry email to Ms. Ridgway, instead of explaining why the petition was withdrawn, she informed us via email that neither She or Melida Heien would be not representing us going forward.
We do have to thank Ms. Ridgway for quitting as our attorney. We knew from the start that Ms. Ridgway had no intention of litigating this case. We had started looking for other attorneys prior to Ms. Ridgway's departure from our case. When I mentioned the name Sheila Ridgway to her peers, I received comments: "She used to be a good attorney". That could explain why her only 4 star review was in 2021.
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