Complaint Review: Law Office of Barton R. Resnicoff - Lake Success NY

Divorce lawyer, Barton R. Resnicoff Esq, made me feel at ease when he heard my dire situation and promised me results. He went on and on about life lessons and similar cases to mine that he supposedly had in the past.  After he received his retainer, his demeanor and approach changed drastically.  He was very difficult to reach on the phone or email and returned my messages very late. 

He initially advised me not to agree to a settlement agreement while making a plan to threaten to go to trial, and then receiving a better deal from the settlement.  This assinine plan backfired and we ended up in court. 

Bart forgot numerous times to file information with the court and made us look like complete idiots in front of the judge and my ex.  My ex and his lawyer took advantage of my having hired the fraudulent Barton Resnicoff as my hairy nose in the air lawyer.  It was too late to fire Bart and I realized that I would have to revisit my case later on with a decent attorney.

If I knew that Bart Resnicoff would be a foul-mouthed dishonest Scrooge that would so badly handle my case, I would have represented myself, taken the settlement and saved a great deal of precious time with my children, assets, and the ability to move on with my life sooner.

Divorce is not cheap but it does not need to bankrupt you and make you complete enemies with the other parent of your children.  About half of marriages end in divorce.  You do not need to have extreme animosity after you were unable to altogether cohabit AND be intimate, AND share all assets AND agree with most matters.  Your personal experience, Jim, is not representative of all divorced or unmarried parents or co-parents.  Yes, people can maturely co-parent children with an ex-spouse or former partner.  However, that relationship can be immensely shaped for a long period of time by the manner in which custody was resolved and how shared possessions were apportioned. 

The main reason I arrived at this understanding was when our case was revisited.  I hired an attorney who had comparable credentials and length of experience but was more rational and realistic about negotiating outcomes for custody and assets.  She told me what it was to "fight the good fight" in legal maneuvers and how much each "fight" would cost.  At that point, the animosity between my ex-spouse and I was even worse than immediately after our divorce.  However, this more diplomatic approach ended up in a settlement in, which neither of us was happy, but we were content.  Yes, the way you end things matters.  Two people who were married, but especially two people who share children must end a marriage in a way that they can parent their children and move on with their lives. 

This is why I wish that the unrealistic, aloof and aggressive, and irresponsible original attorney, Bart Resnicoff, never represented me for monetary assets and MOST IMPORTANTLY: MY CHILDREN.

Barton Resnicoff knew of my assets, earnings, and my BUDGET for this case.  I told Bart Resnicoff my budget at the beginning of every conversation in person, on the phone, and email.  I asked for the amount I owed and he would brush it off, telling me that someone else in his firm would give me an updated statement, which took a great deal of time.  The statements I did receive appeared to have many discrepancies with reality when I would end up having to show evidence several times to his own firm that I could not have had a conversation in person with him when I was not on the same continent with Barton Resnicoff at the time.  He did not individualize my legal strategy numerous times when I told him what the range of my end goals were and the means I had to achieve.  Despite knowing my monetary constraints, he put me on an aggressive scorched earth legal strategy.

Bart Resnicoff was a cold, untruthful, incompetent, aloof, aggressive, untrustworthy legal representative whose traits I learned years after my divorce.

It's pretty expensive and in a divorce situation, there is only one loser.  In this case, that was you.  It seemed very clear to me, just based on what you wrote, that the lawyer you hired was aggressive.  In some divorce cases, an aggressive lawyer is a good thing. 

The strategy he carried out was consistent with that philosophy.  The problem wasn't with your attorney.  The problem was with your ex-wife.  Had you chosen an attorney who was less aggressive, you'd likely be in the same situation. 

You cannot look at a divorce with a what-if attitude.  Had the PI found evidence that your wife placed your children in some danger, then you could argue for greater custody using the PI's report as an example.  Simple inconsistencies between word and action aren't worth bringing up in the first place simply because such inconsistencies don't result in increased visitation for you. 

You didn't want to have the lawyer go through the papaerwork because of the rate he charged.  However, that would have been money well spent had you done so.

The way Bart advised me to escalate matters with a private investigator has now, that the hearings are over, there is complete and utter distrust with the co-parent of my kids.  Yeah, well, had you decided to have the firm go through the report, it is more than likely the attorney may not have seen fit to go through with confronting your wife's attorney about the PI's report.  However, you should also know that's the way a divorce generally goes, regardless of whether you chose this attorney, or someone else, PI, or not. 

Finally, she isn't a co-parent either; that is a ridiculous term I wish people would bury!  She is your ex-wife who will have primary custody of the kids.  You will never earn any trust with her, again, regardless of what happened.  Treasure the time you have with your kids and do right by them.  If you do, they won't resent the time you couldn't be with them.  Trust me, I know.