Center For Children & Family Law

Avoid A Center for Children & Family Law in Orange County. Our experience with them was just awful. Someone wrote in a review here that "all they care about is money" and this was 100% our experience. They had an opportunity early on to help support and guide us to meditation and counseling and instead discouraged us from it heavy-handedly. Well after a year+ later and tens of thousands of dollars wasted finally we resulted to counseling which helped resolve everything for a fraction of the time and cost. I felt sick at how much time and money had been wasted. The fact of the matter is that law firms like this are actually ALIGNED to conflict because (consciously or unconsciously) they understand they make more money the more conflict there is not less. This is their great conflict of interest. And so that's all they did: create more conflict with us and cost us a fortune. We also found their communication to be poor, and they seemed disorganized and unprofessional throughout the process. Instead of providing the support and guidance expected, they made an already difficult situation even more stressful. I would not recommend them to anyone looking for reliable legal assistance. Sheryl Edgar in particular was the cause of most of the waste. That being said, she's a tough, intelligent woman, so maybe more suited for criminal law as a prosecuting attorney or something. Not for family law.

Tisha Harman was in charge of my children’s case. I can say so many things about how she handled the case and not positive. I’m a a survivor of DV.. I pointed out that my ex verbally abused me in public while pregnant recently and she said that I need to excuse my ex because he had already had a bad day and that I was likely hormonal due to my pregnancy! This lady could not get any worse. She was definitely not my kids lawyer but my ex husband lawyer.. she gets paid to protect and investigate but does the opposite. I would not recommend this place to anyone. Please stay away from their offices.

They have a very simple way to pad your bill. Let me tell you their method. You are directed to ask your question to the receptionist who in turn gives it to the $150 an hour clerk who gives it to the assistant who then ultimately asks the attorney but you are charged for each step of their maze. Your simple question easily becomes a $1000 facet on the bill and upwards of that when they take the time to type their email reply as opposed to calling you or picking up the phone in the first place. Typing the email reply is more billable time than returning the call and then if the reply raises another question well, the entire cycle is repeated again starting with the receptionist and upward$. You will be asked for extensive documentation that took 3 adults 3 full days to work on and gather then she used ZERO of it when it came time before the judge at the hearing. You tell them what you want them to present and they do as THEY want and that’s basically nothing but maybe an extremely costly continuance consisting of a whole new world of outside charges like monitors, costly reports, classes and so on simply because NOTHING you worked on to dispute the allegations were ever presented by your representative. Oh, but you will get the dozen paragraphs reply that they charge you once again to type. When we got to court, Tracy said she didn’t have time to review the file prior. Keep in mind, the assistants put it together and they aren’t in court. We got absolutely NOTHING from this firm (Tracy Willis) to be exact except a huge bill. They continued to bill after they were substituted out claiming they still worked on it. Be aware there are too many people touching your file at $$$$$ charges but you get nothing. Tracy was not assertive at all with the judge, she had no power of persuasion to present what she asked you to do for 3 whole days with 3 people working on it to, in the end, to NEVER use it. I used to refer this firm out when we had a different attorney on a previous case, I will never do that again. I would not recommend this firm at all. They are expensive and it’s definitely not the case of ‘you get what you pay for’ because you pay and pay but get nothing but pages and pages of detailed billing. I never felt like Tracy cared at all about the outcome, just the billing. If you want someone that truly cares, is aggressive and that will put forth effort, skip Tracy Willis.

Our case was initially assigned to Tisha Harman who was subsequently replaced by Tracy Jackson Willis. It has been over 3 years since our son turned 18 and she was discharged from our case. Ms. Willis was looking solely after my ex-wife's interests rather than our son's. Thankfully, Judge Silberman was not drinking the Kool-aid that this office was drinking. I don't know where to start by saying that Ms. Jackson put the "I" in "incompetence". My ex-wife's now ex-husband was a cocaine sniffing angry little short man who like hitting people (including my ex-wife). Despite this, Ms. Jackson was going to vocalize my son's preference to go live with my ex-wife and this man in Arizona. "No, Ms. Jackson, that is not an option." the Judge said. Then was the Ex Parte application for Christmas supported by Ms. Jackson. The judge said to Ms. Jackson, "Christmas is on the same day every year. Why is the Christmas holiday now an emergency?" Ms . Jackson stares blankly looking for something meaningful to say to justify her $1,000 appearance at the hearing. It soon became very apparent that she likely felt sorry for my ex-wife as she did not have an attorney and was making decisions/recommendations based on favorable outcomes for my ex-wife then for my son's best interest. As for billing, yes, they do charge to talk to you about your bill. Yes, in the absence of an order, they charge interest on unpaid balances in the absence of a contract to indicating same (appointed by the Court). The only justice in the whole joint appointment was that my ex-wife stiffed the firm for their fees. I just paid $20 a month until they called me and offered me a deal to close out the case. After I paid off the balance, they sent me another bill for $15 for talking on the phone to make my payment. They churn a lot of butter here (if you know what I mean). In closing, proceed with caution. Review your bill. Call the Fee arbitration program if you are violated and don’t hesitate to jump ship if your experience is similar to mine.

This review is a LONG TIME COMING. Unfortunately it's all too common to need a family law practitioner at some point in your life. I cannot recommend this office and these attorneys ENOUGH . I had an extremely difficult case a few years ago and to this very day I'm still stunned about not only their professionalism but their tenacity, knowledge, compassion, strength and determination to fight for me and all of their clients. Christina was absolutely incredible. Shayda was unbelievable! Mind you, my sons father is a millionaire. Not just on paper. Millions liquid. Compared to him I'm poverty stricken. These women were fair in fees and won my case against some heavy hitting attorneys that worked for my son's father! These women didn't even bat an eye! They not only won my case but fed the defense some of their "own." They made me feel like I was family and fought for me as if I WERE IN FACT family. Sheryl Edgar runs an absolutely top notch law office. I will NEVER go to any other attorney should I ever need help again. If you just give them an opportunity and go in for a consult, you will walk out feeling like everything for once, is going to be just fine. Thank you, ladies! You changed the lives of my son Ryan and myself in a way I never thought possible. Thank you for everything!!!