Reviews

Suzanne has represented me in several different cases. Each result has been in my favor. Her preparedness and knowledge were such that the other side had little or no chance at victory. She kept me "in the loop" each and every step of the way, telling me what to expect and reminding me to stay on track. She's ethical, and informed. She will tell you how it is and will also tell you when to settle your case so it does not drag on forever. She is tenacious and will not give up. Everyone knows horrible lawyers whose sole purpose seems to be billing hours. Suzanne Bartleson provides her clients with good value for her time, excellent knowledge of the law (in several different areas), and a strong work ethic. I have recommended her services to many people in the Spokane community who have used and relied on her law skills. I would give her 6 stars, but there are only 5.

i hired her based on the add in the yellow pages which indicates caring about children. i meet with her for free consultation and decided to hire her. at that time she indicated to me that i should seek 50% custody of our 6yr old son based on my work schedule which allows me availability to be a parent. one day after i hired her, my wife had her attorney file and serve a temporary dissolution. i was told that i needed to write a response to the dissolution to also be filed. i was not given any instruction to achieve this but was able to get the information from the internet. we emailed my response back and forth to edit it. i virtually wrote about 80- to 90% of the documents. at one point i questioned the condition of her edits and was told defensively that she had to spend 3 hours rewriting my documents because they were poor. i doubt that. when we meet with my wife and her attorney to file our legal seperation the next week, i asked ms. bartelson about the 50% custody and she told me that if either party is not in agreement that 50% custody would not occur. i told her that if she had told me that early on, i would not have requested it because i knew my wife would never allow it. this also caused my wife to get overly aggressive. at the time of our filing the legal seperation, i had agreed to move out of our home within 30 days. at the filing i was given documents to sign but was rushed and really not able to review them. the one that i should have reviewed was my child support schedule. the documents were filled out incorrectly and caused me to have to pay $200 more in child support each month. ms. Bartelson was aware of the correct figures but allowed the opposing attorney to use her schedule which was based on a copy of a worksheet that i had filled out incorrectly during our edit process.my wife retrieved the copy off my email account and provided it to her attorney. a big issue that i stated to ms. bartelson was that i needed to have access to the shop at our house for the winter to store things during the divorce process. once the legal seperation occured, my wife began a process of harrassment which i saw that i could not stay in our home for the 30 days i was given. i immediately moved out and my wife and her attorney began requesting that i vacate the shop also. ms. bartelson contacted me several times about this issue even after i stated to her that it was not possible and that it was the only agreement that i asked her to maintain. there were a few more motions filed by my wifes attorney which were resolved by agreement. i hired ms. bartelson in the beginning of oct and by mid dec. i reviewed my support schedule and realized that i was paying $200 more on my support than was needed. i called ms. bartelson to discuss my feelings about her short comings with my case but before i could list the multiple issues she cut me short and said she needed to remove herself from the case.at that time there was a motion in court to allow my wife to take our son on a winter vacation for three weeks. i was opposed to this because my time with him was reduced to 20% visitation and i wanted him to stay with me for the 3 weeks.she abandoned me at a critical point. in 2 1/2 months i spent $4,500 utilizing ms. bartelson and i spent $1000 in child support overage which i never recooperated. where divorce attorneys feel that they are due $200 - $250 per hour to provide poor service or to charge you for their time when you call to see why they are not working on your case. i spent an extra $2,800 on my next attorney which did absolutely no legal work but was to help file my finalized "mediated" dissolution. the $2800 was spent on me calling his legal aid from feb. to june to see why the divorce was not finalized. in the end, the majority of the dissolution documents that were signed and filed were from my original documents. my wifes attorney used my drafts. something is wrong with spokane's divorce attorneys.