Reviews

First of all, I would like to make clear that we did not chose to work with Ms. Nance at Bagwell Holt Smith P.A. She was chosen by the buyers of our home in Durham, and we had no choice but to work with her. Upon receipt of our estimated closing documents, we informed Ms. Nance that the payoff amount was incorrect (too high). When we pointed this out, we were met with the condescending reply that we simply did not understand how to read out mortgage documents. The next day, when we presented Ms. Nance with the correct payoff amount in the form of an email with a pdf from our lender attached, we were accused of "borderline harassment" for having pointed out her careless mistake. The closing documents were corrected. Later, while we were signing closing documents, we were informed by our neighbor that there were people trespassing on our property. The timing of the trespassers seemed quite suspicious to us because the only people who knew we would not be at home were myself and my partner, our realtor, a mobile notary, and Ms. Nance's office. As we had not approved of anyone entering the property, and because we suspected that they may have been under the direction of Ms. Nance, we informed her that we were not aware of not did we approve any requests for people to come onto our property, especially as the Due Diligence period had closed. Her response was that it was the survey her office had ordered to be done during the Due Diligence period, which had been delayed, and said that he had no legal right to deny them. I am not an attorney, however I believe I would have been fully in my rights to have called the police on the trespassers onto our private property given the Due Diligence period had been closed and we were never notified that a survey was going to be done. Our final grievance with Ms. Nance concerns her preparation of our tax documents. We first received one 1099-S form from Ms. Nance's office containing only the social security number (SSN) of my partner. As we are unmarried, we file our taxes singly and so I requested that we be sent two 1099-S forms, one for myself and one for my partner. Though we never consented to electronic documents, we were emailed pdfs of our 1099-S forms however this time Ms. Nance had switched our SSNs so that my SSN was on Jason's form and vice versa. Her response was she just put them in the order they were in on another form (and didn't bother to check that they were correct). I replied asking the corms to be corrected, again, and to be mailed. We then received copies of the 1099-S forms in the mail which had our incorrect SSNs. Upon notification, Ms. Nance re-sent the pdfs of the corrected 1099-S forms. I have once again requested hard copies be mailed as we never consented to electronic delivery of these documents. While preparation of all these documents may be rote to Ms. Nance, they are extremely important to us and have significant impact on our finances. The carelessness employed by Ms. Nance throughout this process is extremely unprofessional. While everyone should be double and triple checking any document they sign, it is easy as a first time home seller to be overwhelmed with the sheer amount of paperwork that goes into selling a home. One should be able to trust that the parties preparing such important documents (and collecting payment accordingly) would have the ability to prepare them correctly and with care. I am glad that we reviewed everything carefully and am sorry for those who have unknowingly been victims of Ms. Nance's carelessness and unprofessionalism.

My experience with this firm has not been positive. I was the seller of my Moms home after she passed away. The attorneys and paralegals did not bother to walk me through the closing sheet even though there were significant expenses coming out of our pocket. They were unresponsive on trying to figure out wiring instructions leading up to closing. Finally they have been dismissive about my concerns on tax bills still coming to me instead of the new owner after the closing. Do not recommend.

I highly recommend John and his team. They handled my custody and divorce case with the utmost compassion and I ended up with an extremely positive outcome. My military retirement was protected and untouched. My custody agreement is fair and while it is not perfect, I live in a different state. John was extremely prompt at answering any form of communication even when on his personal time. The firm genuinely care about the clients that they represent and I felt like they treated me as their own family.

I can recommend this firm for both Landlord-Tenant issues and Real Estate Closings. Evan Harrell, an attorney at Bagwell Holt Smith P.A., represented me in a landlord- tenant damage claim. I, as the landlord, was confronted with significant damages, and an uphill battle to hold the tenants accountable. Evan quickly grasped the nuances of my predicament, and did a superior job negotiating, resulting in an advantageous settlement. He communicated clearly, explained issues well, and was responsive. I highly recommend Evan as an attorney. For Real Estate Closings, I've used this firm 3 times, and each time the transaction was handled incredibly well. The paperwork was all well prepared, and explained clearly. The financial transaction was easy.

Phenomenal lawyer who goes beyond just your case and helps wherever he can. Extremely responsive, kind, and smart. I cannot recommend a better lawyer.

I have left 3 messages over the last 5 days and no one has returned my phone calls. Today is Jan 24 and I still have not received a commission check from a closing on Dec 30th.

Absolutely abhorrent law firm. Imagine being a domestically abused woman, referred from The Compass Center, a center for domestic violence victims and you pay this firm a $5000 retainer fee but all they do is take your money and do NOTHING for you except take your money. DO NOT trust these people. They do NOT advocate for you, in fact, they do NOTHING for you, whatsoever. Could you imagine paying a lawyer and they consistently misspell your name? Would give zero stars, if I could. I filed a grievance with the North Carolina State Bar. Just imagine going to get help and leaving, needing even more help. Pathetic "firm". My original lawyer, Emily Hurtt (who was wonderful and professional) left for maternity leave and I was left with an incompetent Sarah Barlowe to take over my case who was very snarky, unprofessional, unhelpful and even offered to go over details of my case "off the clock" but this never happened. You just cannot trust them to do anything for you or keep their word. Sarah Barlowe is also very apathetic towards domestically abused woman, does not care about children in your custody case and will do nothing to move your case forward or help you.

"I would highly recommend Bagwell Holt Smith P.A. Law Team for Family Law issues. They are a quintessential organization of highly qualified Lawyers who will represent your case with an outstanding knowledge of Family Law. They were very professional, kind, and sensitive to details surrounding my having the best outcome of my case. I highly endorse them respectively from the receptionist, paralegals, and to John and all his team. I will forever appreciate the manner in which they supported me both professionally and personally with my legal matter. Words cannot express... they are just a wonderful and amazing Family Law Group! Thank you ALL!!!"