So, DeMoya & Associates Plans To Sue Me! There's a BIG SURPRISE.

I came home today to find a rather THICK envelope from the legal firm of DeMoya & Associates, the law firm who's services I terminated due to (IMO) complete and total incompetence on their part. Imagine an attorney or law firm telling you your bill is FAR NORTH of over $50,000 dollars when the only thing they managed to do was get you $1138 a month in Pendente Lite relief for a period of a few months.   Imagine asking from day one that your attorney figure out just how much of a retirement fund (401K) my 50 percent was worth, constantly being told it looked like somewhere around $350-$400K, only to learn after said lawyer's services were terminated that my share in all reality was/is only worth about $165.000!   Of course, every time I pressed my attorney on this issue, asked her to figure out what my share was worth, I was told the timing was NOT RIGHT.   Guess perhaps she and the law firm were content milking the cow, happy to know they were going to walk away with almost 40 percent of my divorce settlement amount?

Or perhaps, as I suspect, it was just plain incompetence?  

When an attorney files a motion for Interim Legal Fees to be paid by the monied spouse, there are rules and procedures to be followed...you know, the dotting of I's, the crossing of T's.   Almost everything filed on my behalf by the law firm of DeMoya & Associates was filled with fatal errors that saw her motions denied...including the firm's last formal motion for interim counsel fees in the amount of $40,000 that was denied because Demoya & Associates had failed to include as a part of the filing an updated copy of my financial statement.  It is noted here, that the attorney handling my case had told me before we went into court that her firm was going to withdraw as counsel if said motion was denied.

In short, I would not recommend this law firm.  Had my original request been adhered to...clarifying what my fifty percent share of the retirement account was worth...now known to be (supposedly) $165,000 would have seen settlement much sooner rather than later.  Instead, the lions share of the legal bill Demoya & Associates presented me with was spent on temporary Pendente Relief in the amount of $1138 a month for a period of about ten months...do the math.   This law firm wants me to pay them over $50,000 in legal fees for their efforts to get me $1138 a month....so, for every $1138 I am receiving, I am being billed over $5000!  Even worse, three times DeMoya and Associates made a motion for interim counsel fees, and three times FAILED.  Had their last request been properly filed, had it been successful, the moneyed  spouse in this case would have been ordered to pay $40,000 in interim fees, and I would still be represented by legal counsel instead of representing myself.