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06 Nov, 2019 by Anonymous
I retained Jennifer after realizing that I needed to change divorce lawyers at a critical stage in my divorce proceedings. In our initial consult she was impartial and even offered advice and to ways that I might try to keep working with my current lawyer to prevent delays. Once engaged she rapidly got up to speed and was always quick to respond to my questions and was open to my feedback. Jennifer and the rest of her team gently guided me through a painful and often frustrating process, ensuring that my financial well-being was secured while avoiding a court process. She is well versed in spousal equity issues in federal retirement and health insurance systems and ensured that required documentation was prepared.
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06 Aug, 2019 by Anonymous
After over 35 years of marriage having retired from the practice of law to devote my life to my family, I was in need of legal representation to respond to my husband's demand for a divorce. Jennifer Davison and the law firm of Feldesman Tucker provided me with exceptional legal advice ensuring that my future and financial resources were protected. Jennifer was very knowledgeable, patient, and was always available to me when I needed her advice, support and counsel. Finally, Jennifer and the firm achieved the best possible results through negotiation with opposing counsel.
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29 Jul, 2019 by Katelin
Jennifer is a remarkable attorney with in-depth knowledge of family law issues. I, personally, went through a terrible divorce, and Jennifer walked me through each step and helped me understand the law and what my rights were in terms of custody, alimony, and child support. In addition to her incredible wealth of knowledge and experience in family law, she also had an invaluable friendly manner. She takes time to listen and understand. She responds with efficacy and true care - a rare and priceless trait.
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29 Aug, 2020 by Helene
Virginia Kling is the lawyer you want on your side for any complex, difficult, divorce case. She is incredibly thorough, thoughtful, and detailed. She knows family law inside out and creatively comes up with precedents that can be applied to the case and help move negotiations forward. Her listening skills are matched only by her patience -- she will really try to take in and address all your concerns, and work in tandem with other skilled professionals when necessary (e.g. forensic accounting expert). Meetings whether in person or over the phone are conducted efficiently, well prepared, and I love that Virginia is always easily accessible for any question or follow-up, and turns things and documents around in record time. She drafts exceedingly well, and I felt she was my advocate at every step and kept my goal (to achieve a fair, balanced, settlement with adequate safeguards for my children's custody) first and foremost throughout the protracted, long, and difficult negotiations. I highly recommend her services to anyone looking for a tough, yet open, balanced, and highly personable, divorce attorney.
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28 Nov, 2018 by Erin
Virginia was not only an excellent lawyer, but truly cared about my case. She was extremely detail oriented and took time to learn the specifics of my case. She produced several written briefs for my case, and even other lawyers spoke highly of how well they were prepared. It was an incredibly challenging time, but having a lawyer as capable and as caring as Virginia made such a huge positive difference!
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22 Feb, 2018 by Anonymous
I had a consultation with Ben regarding my divorce and child custody/support. Ben was knowledgeable and honest while explaining the process to me. He gave clear advice and I felt much more settled about my next steps.
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12 Nov, 2017 by Patricia
The time I spent with Ben was so extremely helpful. I appreciated his honesty, integrity and professionalism. He managed a tough and emotionally laden situation with sensitivity and was able to keep me focused in order to conduct a thorough and highly productive consultation. Invaluable to me.
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20 Jan, 2020 by Jon
Lori is an excellent attorney. I live 4 hours away from DC and not familiar with the civil court system in DC. Lori guided me through a motion filed against me for a reasonable price and without having to travel. We communicated on the phone and email until the morning I had to appear in court. She was very quick to respond to all of my questions (and I had tons of questions). She was well prepared for court and had the motion dismissed at the hearing level. My case was dismissed early on and I am very confident in her. I would definitely hire again or recommend her.
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17 Jun, 2019 by William
Working with Mr. Stein has been an amazing experience! I hired him to represent my family in a very contentious child custody case and he met EVERY one of my expectations. His thoroughness and professionalism are unmatched in the court room and his experience with the legal system are always on display! I would highly recommend Mr. Stein to ANYONE with legal matters that seem too tough to tackle. He’s very thoughtful and deliberate in explaining legal matters which will instill confidence and calmness in any client he represent. I can not thank Mr. Stein enough for all that he has done for my family and myself.
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21 Aug, 2024 by Anonymous
Jordan was an absolute life saver throughout my divorce after 30 years. He is extraordinarily detailed, he misses nothing. Jordan exudes strength, professionalism and produces realistic, though aggressive, results. With Jordan you know every next step as he includes you in these with absolute precision. He makes the most use of your and well as his valuable time with the utmost honesty displaying this by executing everything with motto of “early is on time and on time is late.” It is such a good feeling to know your attorney projects and is aware and prepared for almost any scenario. Youthful, yet with the wisdom of an attorney of many decades. Many will underestimate this powerhouse and that works very much in your favor! Hire Jordan without any reservation!
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16 Aug, 2024 by Anonymous
I spent years and thousands of dollars without progress and was beginning to lose all hope. When I engaged Jordan as my representative, he caught up on the history extremely quickly and expertly navigated the chaos to provide me with amazing legal advice and support. His firm also was very fair on the billing which isn't always the case. The resolution he got me in my custody battle was better then any deal I could have ever hoped for and I had been explicitly told that what I wanted would never happen. I am filled with confidence that he will finish my divorce in the same manner and couldn't be happier with his incredible and professional work.
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26 Sep, 2024 by Keon harris
I would highly recommend Mr. Howlett for your legal needs. Not only was he knowledgeable but he was patient with me and provided prompt service. Please give him a call if you are need of a great attorney.
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13 Sep, 2024 by Danny sanni
Bad experience. Incompetent and rude. I have a $5500 bill as proof of the bad service I got. I can attach the proof here if the firm disputes this review. Solon Phillips gets into an emotional shouting match when held accountable. This might be the only real review here. Don’t fall for it.
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06 Sep, 2024 by Mark pogue
She is very good at what she does. Puts the customer at ease and is very patient with the elderly
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26 Sep, 2024 by Keon harris
I would highly recommend Mr. Howlett for your legal needs. Not only was he knowledgeable but he was patient with me and provided prompt service. Please give him a call if you are need of a great attorney.
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13 Sep, 2024 by Danny sanni
Bad experience. Incompetent and rude. I have a $5500 bill as proof of the bad service I got. I can attach the proof here if the firm disputes this review. Solon Phillips gets into an emotional shouting match when held accountable. This might be the only real review here. Don’t fall for it.
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06 Sep, 2024 by Mark pogue
She is very good at what she does. Puts the customer at ease and is very patient with the elderly
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13 Apr, 2024 by Liz martin
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02 Mar, 2022 by Tairy hesticles
I was contacted about a class actio. case and it was requested that I speak with a paralegal for an hour during my workday. I was asked up front my gender and race. After an hour long conversation, there was a follow-up email explaining that my gender and race disqualified me from the case. I wasted my lunch giving valuable information for a case that they knew up front I did not qualify for. Thanks for wasting my lunch break.
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11 Nov, 2021 by Herve simo
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06 Sep, 2024 by Osei king
if I could leave negative stars, I would. Do not waste your money with this person. He is too busy to review your case, and doesn't submit key evidence on time. He is an utter embarrassment. I would strongly recommend that you never do business with this person ever!
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30 Aug, 2024 by Judith
I had a very corner case scenario. First off, I was able to speak directly with Mr Colbert without going though 20 questions with a gatekeeper or wait days for a call back. Second, instead of just saying nope, can't help you, he brainstormed during our call and gave me a few ideas I never would have considered to help resolve my issue. He gives lawyers a GOOD name. Thank you!
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02 Jan, 2023 by Dale k.
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28 Mar, 2022 by James
This post provides a written response to the Virginia State Bar’s (VSB) request to initiate a formal ethics investigation against Christopher Martin Locey. It contains information and provides specific examples how Mr. Locey violated provisions of the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct. In addition, it illustrates how Mr. Locey’s actions and behavior contradict the Principals of Professionalism as he consistently failed to act with diligence, dedication, respect, courtesy and in my best interests. Mr. Locey’s professionalism and ineptitude caused me to experience undue stress and severe anxiety, which ultimately undermined my confidence in his ability and trustworthiness. Listed below are specific violations of the rules and principals along with a brief description of each. These examples provide a glimpse and represent only a small portion of the almost daily challenges that I faced. Ultimately, Mr. Locey’s inappropriate, demeaning behavior forced me to find new legal representation to ensure adequate legal representation. A complete list of additional violations and their substantiating documents are available upon request. Rule 1.1: Competence Mr. Locey filed a motion that contained unsubstantiated and inflammatory acquisitions that were based on his opinion. The motion was submitted after I had instructed him to remove them from a draft that I reviewed. The motion, which was later removed portrayed me as a trained killer who targeted his wife for elimination. a. “Father’s shocking behavior during litigation has an explanation that does not require Dr. Lane’s evaluation. As the Court is aware, Father is 23-year veteran of the U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy who served several combat tours in Afghanistan. He has been trained, and is an expert in, assessing threats, and then neutralizing threats by any means necessary, without reflection, without remorse. Unfortunately, it appears that, in litigation, by seeking to “take away” his children and his family, Mother made herself a “threat” to Father, consciously and subconsciously, and he reacted as he was trained, and learned through experience, to do – to neutralize the perceived threat to his children, by any means necessary.” Mr. Locey was demeaning, argumentative, and adversarial toward me on numerous occasions. His emails and phone calls were inappropriate and unprofessional in nature. For example, when negotiating a settlement offer for equity and distribution Mr. Locey was sarcastic, condescending, and even insinuated that I suffered from a learning disability. b. “You are a smart man. You know how to read. You certainly know how to speak up for yourself and ask a question if something is confusing or you do not understand. And this exact issue was one we had already discussed, so there was no way it could be confusing to you the second time unless you have some sort of learning disability you have not disclosed, or else you did not read what I sent to you. Either way, I instructed you to tell me your thoughts, which requires you to read what I sent. Either you hid from me a learning disability, or you did not do what I asked you to do (or you are making this all up, which I suppose, is a third option). None of those are my responsibility.” Mr. Locey used the threat of seeing my children in the future to push his own opinions and narratives. On numerous occasions he used statements like, “If you ever want to see your children again” to influence me into making decisions contrary to my desires. a. “If you want to ask for this, the only hope is to do it with a tone that is the equivalent of begging, on your knees, for her to help you, and by extension, the kids, by agreeing to direct communication.” b. “if you want to see your kids as much as possible and as soon as possible, you really need to appear to be a sweet, happy, cooperative guy. You should be looking for ways to bend over backward to help out Liz.”
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21 Dec, 2015 by James
Ive had 5 or 6 Attorneys in my lifetime and I feel that Chris is honestly the best one I've had. I say this because when I signed the retainer agreement he actually included literature that explained exactly how I as the client can help keep cost down. Further more, when I was forced to discontinue with Chris due to an unfortunate conflict of interest (my wife had already consulted with his office partner - sort of (she didn't show up for actual appointment but had talked to him on the phone)), but once we went our separate ways he actually gave me back almost all of my retainer even though he had already done a substantial amount of work, time and effort. Couple this with the fact that he was extremely responsive to my every single email, phone call, and was also very patient and knowledgeable. I cant tell you how upset I was when I could not keep working with him, but I can tell you that the next time I need an attorney, I will approach him again. Very reasonable priced and he seems very honest - which I have never ever said that about an Attorney before in my life.
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06 Jul, 2023 by Anonymous
Dan listened to me, contacted third parties to get corroboration and wrote a letter to try and help me protect my young children from the indecency my ex was exposing them to with his relationship outside of marriage post divorce having the kids sleep under the same roof as him and his paramour. Unfortunately, we live in a society where nothing is shameless or indecent anymore so nothing changed. Still, I appreciate the efforts Dan made to help. He came highly recommended and did the best he could.
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20 Sep, 2022 by Mo
I went in for a consultation and considered hiring this lawyer. After two meetings, I decided he was not good for me. The 2nd time I met him was less than a month apart, however, this lawyer could not remember a single detail from the first time I consulted him. He watches the clock religiously and will not respond to email with content but a simple "Call me" to make sure you are charged for any time on the phone. He made it difficult even to refund the remaining retainer that was unused. I do not recommend and am happy he is off my divorce case.
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02 May, 2022 by Anonymous
I would highly recommend Dan. I have never really needed an attorney for anything prior to working with Dan and he was very professional in his approach and I appreciate his help in drafting my prenuptial agreement. I did my research and after working with Dan, he exceeded my expectations.
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What a Child Support Lawyer Can Do for You

A child support lawyer specializes in legal issues related to the financial support that one parent provides to another for the upbringing of their children. These lawyers assist with establishing, enforcing, and modifying child support orders, ensuring that the financial needs of the child are met, including housing, food, healthcare, education, and other essentials. A child support lawyer can also represent parents in disputes over the amount of support, ensure fair calculations based on income, and handle legal proceedings if one parent fails to meet their obligations.

Whether you're seeking to establish child support, modify an existing order, or enforce payments, a child support lawyer can help you navigate the legal system and protect your rights and the well-being of your child.

When Should I Hire a Child Support Lawyer?

You should consider hiring a child support lawyer when you need assistance with any of the following child support matters:

  • Establishing child support: If you are going through a divorce or separation and need to establish a child support order, a lawyer can help ensure that the support amount is fair and accurately calculated.
  • Modifying child support orders: If there has been a significant change in circumstances, such as a job loss, income change, or a child's financial needs, a lawyer can help you request a modification to the existing child support order.
  • Enforcing child support payments: If the other parent has failed to make court-ordered child support payments, a lawyer can help enforce the order through legal means such as wage garnishment, property liens, or even legal action.
  • Disputing child support calculations: If you believe the child support amount has been incorrectly calculated based on your income or expenses, a lawyer can help you challenge the calculation and seek a fair adjustment.
  • Paternity disputes: If paternity needs to be established before child support can be ordered, a lawyer can assist with DNA testing and legal proceedings.
  • Interstate child support cases: If the parents live in different states, navigating child support laws can be complex. A lawyer can help ensure the proper jurisdiction is established and that child support is enforced across state lines.
  • Child support during custody disputes: If child custody and child support are being determined simultaneously, a lawyer can help ensure that both issues are resolved fairly and in the best interest of the child.

Hiring a lawyer early can help ensure that your child support case is handled effectively and that your child's financial needs are met.

What Does a Child Support Lawyer Do?

A child support lawyer provides a variety of legal services to help parents secure, modify, and enforce child support arrangements. Their responsibilities often include:

  • Filing for child support: A lawyer can help you initiate the legal process to obtain a child support order, ensuring that all necessary documentation is submitted and deadlines are met.
  • Calculating child support: A lawyer can help ensure that child support is calculated fairly based on both parents' incomes, the needs of the child, and other factors such as healthcare and education costs.
  • Negotiating child support agreements: If both parents are willing to negotiate, a lawyer can help facilitate an agreement on child support outside of court, which can then be approved by a judge.
  • Representing you in court: If negotiations fail or the other parent contests the child support amount, a lawyer will represent you in family court, presenting evidence and making legal arguments to support your case.
  • Modifying support orders: A lawyer can help you file a request for modification if circumstances change, such as a loss of income or an increase in the child’s financial needs.
  • Enforcing child support: If the other parent is not making court-ordered payments, a lawyer can take legal steps to enforce the order through wage garnishment, property liens, or other measures.
  • Handling complex cases: In cases involving high incomes, self-employment, or complicated financial situations, a lawyer can help ensure that all relevant factors are considered in determining child support.

How Are Child Support Lawyers Paid?

Child support lawyers typically charge for their services based on the complexity of the case and the type of legal work required. Common payment methods include:

  • Hourly rate: Most child support lawyers charge by the hour, with rates ranging from $150 to $500 or more, depending on the lawyer’s experience and location. The total cost will depend on how much time the lawyer spends on your case, including preparation, negotiations, and court appearances.
  • Flat fee: For more straightforward cases, such as uncontested child support agreements or basic modifications, some lawyers may offer a flat fee that covers all services related to the case.
  • Retainer: Many lawyers require a retainer, which is an upfront payment that is billed against as the lawyer works on your case. The amount of the retainer depends on the expected complexity of the case.
  • Sliding scale or pro bono services: Some lawyers offer sliding scale fees based on income or provide pro bono (free) services in cases where clients cannot afford to pay full legal fees, especially when children’s needs are at stake.

It’s important to discuss fees with your lawyer during the initial consultation to understand how much you will be charged and what services are covered.

How Much Does a Child Support Lawyer Cost?

The cost of hiring a child support lawyer varies depending on the complexity of the case, whether it's contested or uncontested, and the lawyer’s experience. General cost estimates include:

  • Uncontested child support cases: Legal fees may range from $1,500 to $5,000, depending on the complexity of the paperwork and the lawyer’s fees.
  • Contested child support cases: Legal fees can range from $5,000 to $20,000 or more, especially if the case involves significant court time.
  • Hourly rates: Lawyers typically charge between $150 and $500 per hour for child support cases, with higher rates for more experienced attorneys or cases that involve complex financial issues.
  • Modification or enforcement: Fees for modifying or enforcing a child support order may range from $2,000 to $10,000, depending on the complexity and the need for court intervention.

Always ask for a detailed cost estimate during your consultation so you can plan your budget accordingly.

Top Questions to Ask a Child Support Lawyer

Before hiring a child support lawyer, it’s important to ask questions to ensure they are the right fit for your case. Key questions to ask include:

  1. What experience do you have with child support cases?
    Ensure the lawyer has experience handling cases similar to yours, whether it’s establishing, modifying, or enforcing child support orders.
  2. How do you charge for your services?
    Clarify whether the lawyer charges by the hour, offers flat fees, or requires a retainer, and ask for a detailed estimate of the total cost.
  3. What is the likelihood of success in my case?
    Ask the lawyer for an honest assessment of your case and any potential challenges you may face.
  4. How long will the process take?
    Child support cases can take time, so ask the lawyer how long they expect the process to last and what factors may cause delays.
  5. Will you personally handle my case?
    In larger firms, junior attorneys or paralegals may handle parts of the case. Make sure you know who will be managing your case and representing you in court.
  6. What documents should I prepare?
    Ask the lawyer what financial documents and other information you should bring to help them calculate child support and build your case.

How to Check the Credibility of a Child Support Lawyer

To ensure you are hiring a reputable child support lawyer, take the following steps to verify their credentials and track record:

  • Verify their bar status: Check with your state bar association to confirm that the lawyer is licensed to practice and has no history of disciplinary actions.
  • Look for family law experience: Review the lawyer’s website or professional profile to ensure they specialize in family law and have successfully handled child support cases similar to yours.
  • Read client reviews and testimonials: Look for client reviews on platforms like Avvo, Martindale-Hubbell, or Google to see what previous clients have said about the lawyer’s professionalism and success rate.
  • Ask for references: A credible lawyer should be able to provide references from past clients who have worked with them on child support matters.
  • Check for certifications: Some lawyers may have certifications in family law or membership in organizations like the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), which can indicate their expertise in child support and family law issues.

What Should I Prepare for My First Consultation?

To make the most out of your first consultation with a child support lawyer, it’s important to come prepared with relevant documents and information. Here’s what you should bring:

  • Income documents: Bring pay stubs, tax returns, W-2s, or any other documentation of your income and the other parent’s income, as this will be used to calculate child support.
  • Existing child support orders: If there are any existing child support or custody orders, bring copies for the lawyer to review.
  • Child-related expenses: Provide documentation of your child’s medical bills, education expenses, daycare costs, and any other expenses that should be factored into the child support calculation.
  • Communication with the other parent: Bring any communication between you and the other parent regarding child support, whether through emails, text messages, or written agreements.
  • List of questions: Prepare a list of questions about your case, the legal process, and the lawyer’s fees.

By preparing thoroughly for your consultation, you can help the lawyer assess your case more effectively and provide the best possible legal advice on how to proceed.

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