I know I haven't talked about my divorce attorney too much. Most likely because I just don't like her. Robin Roshkind bills for everything. And, I mean everything.
When Mark was in the middle of his tirade calling me he also called her. She emailed me and asked me to send a recent picture of him to put downstairs at security. I complied. When I got her bill, she charged me for writing that email to me. She charged me for responding to her email sending the picture to her. She charged me for every phone call Mark made to her office. She charged me for a "staff meeting" she had with her 2 employees about Mark.
I hired her at the end of January. In just slightly under two months she has used up the entire $5,000 retainer. And, the only thing she has actually done for me to date is file for my divorce. Heck, I could have done that part myself and saved a ton of money. There were other things too that I won't go into. I had wanted to fire her for a long time, but because my friend Bonnie recommended her I kept thinking I needed to give her a chance. She had recommended her after all. Suffice to say I had just had it.
Back at the first of January, Matt Nugent had recommended Curtis Witters to me. He actually charges a bit more then Robin, however he is 'board certified.' I had no idea what that meant, but Matt (who was Mark's divorce attorney from his first wife) said it is a big deal. Matt had said he couldn't represent me due to conflict of interest. Did I mention Matt married Mark and I? He also married my kids, Chris and Kristin. Anyway, Matt said since I couldn't use him I should get Curtis. I didn't listen to him.
At the time Matt had told me that I just really did not have my heart and soul in getting divorced. Heck, when I filed, I was still trying to figure out "how to help Mark" and save our marriage. I really only filed to stop my obligation due to his insane spending. Also, just in case he did something terrible it wouldn't come back on me. Not to mention the fact that his psychiatrist sat there in front of Mark and told me to save myself and go file for divorce that day. But I digress.
When his psychiatrist had told me that I happened to talk to Bonnie. She was the one that told me about Robin. I decided to use her. Now, I have decided to fire her. I called Matt yesterday and told him what had happened. He was very perturbed at me. "I told you to hire Curtis." Again, I explained why I had done what I did. It didn't seem to help. He told me that those in the profession referred to Robin as a "billing whore." Then he told me to call Curtis. So, I did. They gave me an appointment for this morning.
Curtis drew up the paperwork for me to fire Robin. I didn't have to do anything. That was a relief. He also told me he was drawing up an injunction for me to give me legal control of the businesses while Mark is in jail.
I must say I was pleasantly surprised with Curtis. I liked him from the moment I met him. He made me feel comfortable while talking to him. He seemed to truly listen when I explained what had happened and what I was going through. No, I am not naive. Yes, I know he is getting paid for talking to me. But, it was an entirely different feeling this time. I knew I was making a very good choice.
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