Using Mary Jane Melton as an attorney was one of the most disastrous events in my life. Incompetence is one thing, but incompetence combined with arrogance and disagreebleness is intolerable when one is involved in a situation that requires the use of an attorney. The situation which required that we retain an attorney involved child custody which is a life-altering event, one requiring a trusted advocate rather than a disabreeable and rude adversary.
Although she represented herself as someone who knew the ins and outs of the courhouse, she was clueless. She lied to my husband about the legal fee, indicating that she would take payments. At the last minute, she had her paralegal call and tell us that we owed money and that Mrs. Melton would not appear until it was all paid.
She did absolutely nothing to prepare us for the hearing. She interviewed no witnesses and did not prepare for the hearing herself. We didn't even know what the hearing concerned as it was entitled a preliminary hearing rather than a determinative hearing. Although DFACS waived its usual rule of objecting to subpoena and actually appeared for the hearing, Mrs.Melton did not ask them a single question, the obvious one being, "Did the parents comply with the parenting plan?" No statement was made, and it was obvious that the judge knew nothing about the file.
She refused to speak to me during the hearing, even asking my husband rather than me about my educational background. When I made a minor correction in what he said, she said loudly, "YOU CAN"T TALK!" Although the condition of the house my grandchild lived in was nolonger in issue since the parents had moved out, that's the only thing she made an issue of. The real problem was severe drug use which did not come to light. When I tried to tell the judge what paragraph to read to see the lower court's findings on drug use, she angrily said, "THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"
In the lower court, she had attacked me in full view of all the litigants waiting in the hallway and said, "YOU GOT ME IN TROUBLE1 GET YOURSELF ANOTHER LAWYER!" (I had called the court myself to clarify an issue since she refused to do it.) Although she publicly fired me, she nonetheless got up in court and apologized that her client had "ex parted". I did not ex parte since I was not a party to the suit but was just a witness and since the matter was just a housekeeping matter. She showed absolutely no understanding of the canons of e4thics or the rules of evidence. Although I had not done anything unethical, it certainly created that impression in the minds of everybody else, including the parents of the child. To this day, they think we pulled strings that we did not and could not do.
If my son had not agreed not to contest our having custody of our grandchild, the result would have been very different. And we're $3,000 in the hole since she did absolutely nothing to prepare or work the case. She didn't even prepare the pleadings as they were full of other people's names and addresses. Her secretary had obviously just used a prior pleading and nobody even bothered to proof read it.
It was a horrible experience that I would not wish on anyone with a family matter.
Mary Jane Melton Reviews
Using Mary Jane Melton as an attorney was one of the most disastrous events in my life. Incompetence is one thing, but incompetence combined with arrogance and disagreebleness is intolerable when one is involved in a situation that requires the use of an attorney. The situation which required that we retain an attorney involved child custody which is a life-altering event, one requiring a trusted advocate rather than a disabreeable and rude adversary.
Although she represented herself as someone who knew the ins and outs of the courhouse, she was clueless. She lied to my husband about the legal fee, indicating that she would take payments. At the last minute, she had her paralegal call and tell us that we owed money and that Mrs. Melton would not appear until it was all paid.
She did absolutely nothing to prepare us for the hearing. She interviewed no witnesses and did not prepare for the hearing herself. We didn't even know what the hearing concerned as it was entitled a preliminary hearing rather than a determinative hearing. Although DFACS waived its usual rule of objecting to subpoena and actually appeared for the hearing, Mrs.Melton did not ask them a single question, the obvious one being, "Did the parents comply with the parenting plan?" No statement was made, and it was obvious that the judge knew nothing about the file.
She refused to speak to me during the hearing, even asking my husband rather than me about my educational background. When I made a minor correction in what he said, she said loudly, "YOU CAN"T TALK!" Although the condition of the house my grandchild lived in was nolonger in issue since the parents had moved out, that's the only thing she made an issue of. The real problem was severe drug use which did not come to light. When I tried to tell the judge what paragraph to read to see the lower court's findings on drug use, she angrily said, "THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"
In the lower court, she had attacked me in full view of all the litigants waiting in the hallway and said, "YOU GOT ME IN TROUBLE1 GET YOURSELF ANOTHER LAWYER!" (I had called the court myself to clarify an issue since she refused to do it.) Although she publicly fired me, she nonetheless got up in court and apologized that her client had "ex parted". I did not ex parte since I was not a party to the suit but was just a witness and since the matter was just a housekeeping matter. She showed absolutely no understanding of the canons of e4thics or the rules of evidence. Although I had not done anything unethical, it certainly created that impression in the minds of everybody else, including the parents of the child. To this day, they think we pulled strings that we did not and could not do.
If my son had not agreed not to contest our having custody of our grandchild, the result would have been very different. And we're $3,000 in the hole since she did absolutely nothing to prepare or work the case. She didn't even prepare the pleadings as they were full of other people's names and addresses. Her secretary had obviously just used a prior pleading and nobody even bothered to proof read it.
It was a horrible experience that I would not wish on anyone with a family matter.