Actual Reviews from Past..... I Do What It Takes to Either Win, Fix or Solve Your Problems--Not Just "Talk!"

Just some of prior Reviews, over 18,523 views..:

Attorney Chan has been very responsive to our calls and provides excellent service and advice. Her fees are great and she is very easy to work with. Thanks Carolyn! Review Left On 02/27/2020 RORY HICKS

I'm a mama bear and grandma and appreciate having Carolyn working with my son to protect his rights as a father. She is down to earth and a regular person who doesnt tangle you up with legalease. Review Left On 05/27/2020 Kathleen Oman

Her fees are the best I have found along with great reviews she cant be beat. Review Left On 05/29/2020Bradley Nugent

Are you looking for a dynamite attorney that actually cares about their client and actually wants to win? Then retain Ms. Chan. She is relentless in making sure her case wins. She is very reasonable in her fees, she is worth every penny! She has been awesome with my case. She is extremely knowledgeable of family law, domestic violence and criminality. All things that my case is riddled with. She is a tough cookie, but she definitely knows what she's talking about and will go to hell and back to make sure she wins for you. Go with Chan, you won't regret it. Review Left On 02/27/2020 Lacey Turner

Fair prices and straight talk. Often times you get a lot of run around from attorneys spouting legal jargon that the everyday man or woman can't understand...Miss Chan puts it in layman's terms and talks with intelligence but not as though she is above anyone...as an equal. We were treated fair and though I wasn't involved in the legalities, she listened to my perspective as an outsider looking in on a difficult situation. Highly recommend her. Review Left On 04/17/2020Robert Snow

Amazingly, attorney Chan worked on my extremely difficult case for almost 4 years, and because of the issue involving a criminal informant party, the case was railroaded due to the judge giving kids to the wrong parent; however, attorney Chan told me I would need to leave the county in order to get back the kids and she was right! I moved and eventually the informant got caught with child pornography (lots of it) and he was arrested. Also, attorney Chan helped steer my other case--which was not even in CA--to victory, by pointing out jurisdiction issue/fraud done by the father (not the same father I just mentioned) and I got sole legal and physical custody on that case also!!!! Attorney Chan is really really a big strategy attorney and she will not fail you. Not ever in my opinion because litigation is one of her strong points! Review left on March 15 2021 R. Stiles

She has provided me with excellent service in dealing with my case. Miss Chan knows her stuff. She has been a life saver. I would recommend her services to everone. Review Left On 02/27/2019 Nicki Bennett

Carolyn was super amazing in helping me navigate an extremely stressful and emotional legal issue. Her knowlegde of the law is excellent as she responds to communication very quickly, and is very forth right about possible outcomes. I would absolutely use her again and highly recommend her to anyone navigating a pet or family issue (in my case it was both). Review Left On 01/27/2020Deekay David

Ms Chan has been my attorney for over 25 yrs. She has handled my divorce from how to resolve my case and helping me keep my children in a professional manner at a very reasonable cost. I can't even imagine what would've happened if I didn't retain her services.

Review Left On 08/19/2020sigrid wroolie Wonderful. I have very complicated situation and Carolyn was the only attorney I spoke with that understood and offered solutions. She is confident and professional. After hiring her I could sleep nights knowing she was there to help resolve what seemed overwhelming. Even the judge straightened up when she spoke firmly and pleasantly. She cuts to the chase to get things done not wasting billable time. I trust her to protect the issues I most value. Review Left On 05/27/2019Duckie Maggetti

Thank you for everything and all the help with my case definitely recommending you if i know anyone who needz an attorney Review Left On 08/07/2020dave parks

We hired attorney based on a friend's recommendation and after looking at various legal sites because we needed a stand up type of person who is not afraid to speak up [after having suffered from using a very weak lawyer in the past, it didn't work for us....]anyway we found the attorney's insight on people to be very keen, and she was more than willing to go the extra steps we needed to get the result we were working on , plus she even talked to us after hours several times. Talk can be cheap sometimes but for me personally, I am more than happy with the attorney's service to us. Review Left On 12/27/2019Dale Hanson

Though I have not personally talked with Ms Chan, I can say she has given great counsel to my daughter at fair prices throughout her difficult process of her divorce. Review Left On 11/13/2019

Carolyn was a great choice! Her prices are the best I've seen and she truly cares about her clients. Carolyn was by my side throughout the entire process with great advice and support in and out of the courtroom Review Left On 06/27/2020 Michael Alexander

Review Left On 06/27/2019Remy Martin I appreciate her honesty and the fact that she's blunt. There is no guessing what she means which is very rare to find; especially in an attorney. She has given me hope and there is a light at the end of this custody battle.

Review Left On 06/24/2019Denny Patinoz For what I was charged especially, and the research done, I would recommend her because she tries much harder than other attorneys I have seen in past, knows what she is doing in strategy, and can own the truth, regardless. Hard to ask for more, no joke. Especially these days!

Do You Want to Win Your Case? Should You Hire a Litigator? Do You Care?

What Type of Attorney do You Really Need?         Do You Want to Win?       You Don't Care? THEN READ MY REVIEWS .... https://affordablefamilylawattorneychico.blogspot.com/

*People must care,  because about 2,609- 2,857   2,934-  7,653 people have read this post*

Do you have a case where you want to win, or need to win your case?
Do you have the winning facts?  Do you know what law would or would not support your position? Do you want or need an actual litigator for your case?

Hiring an advocate (attorney litigator) is not the same as hiring collaborative attorneys. Also, mediating* a case with only one attorney means ...The mediator helps people talk the issues through, supposedly helping to "settle" the dispute themselves. In this attorney's opinion, it would not be recommended in most cases, because typically the overbearing spouse simply bulldozes the other spouse.

*[Mediation for visitation is not the same thing as mediation of an entire divorce case. Mediation for visitation/custody is required by law in CA when there is no agreement.]


There are many pitfalls that can arise in divorce; many of them involve financial transactions that one spouse had no knowledge of; assets that one spouse did not know about; children that were conceived outside the marriage and spouse never knew other spouse was paying; secret business dealings that was predicated on all cash; illegal actions by one spouse implicating the other spouse who had no knowledge; large debts racked up by one spouse, without the other spouse even knowing such debt existed; one spouse signing the other spouse's name for a credit card, then ruining the other spouse's credit.... NONE of these things, in this attorney's opinion, should be addressed in either mediation or collaborative law scenario.

That is because there was a huge breach of fiduciary duty that has serious consequences to the guilty spouse. That should be done in court since the guilty spouse should have to pay for wrongdoing. (Of course if you are too afraid because your spouse might try and kill you then you better go get help right away.)

Especially if you have issues in the 3 lines below, which happened BEFORE the case finalized---- you should never hire anyone except an advocate litigator. Aggressive at that. Plus, there are huge time barriers to trying to set aside any of this!

Fraud, Duress
Mistake, Coercion,
Failure to Exchange Declarations (Assets Debts)-or-
  when exchanged, i.e.--have false, misleading or improper numbers, values, dates..

When clients hire attorneys to get something done, especially in family law, it's often because one SIDE tried to take advantage of the other side.  If you have a family law case where both of you AGREE on everything then you may not need separate attorneys, except perhaps to create a settlement agreement.
However if you actually never knew your legal rights and decided to just move ahead without knowing if what you were doing could harm you, that is dangerous. One caveat--beware the notion to eliminate spousal support in the future, NEVER give up that right. If you do, and you shack up with someone down the line, the other side has ability, potentially, to eliminate your support.... I can't say more re this topic because it is more complicated than it appears. Just BEWARE!! You should consult an attorney before making any key decisions.

HOWEVER, the vast majority of most divorces and break ups, are because the couple cannot agree on a lot of things, including (just an example....) post judgment orders.........

How to raise the kids-- too lenient?  too strict?
How to spend income from employment or inheritance
What to do with spouse that is either dangerous, aggressive, drinks too much
How to get out of supervised visits?? You have an ex spouse also?
Your spouse is bipolar and can't be controlled?

Of all the problems attorney has seen over several decades, the problems around children tend to generate the worst issues, followed by physical harm, financial issues, and alcohol or drug use.

And remarkably, attorney has seen clients REFUSE to take what he/she is entitled to, and then SETTLE a case by using an attorney who is or was a mediator, --- in other words, the attorney is not acting as a litigator for the client?

If you are entitled to something, why would you pay someone to settle a case 

when you could have settled it without help????   

Collaborative law and mediation means if you don't settle the case

 using whomever you hired, those attorneys cannot represent you in court anyway.

You THEN have to hire new attorneys!!

While mediation and collaborative may be good for some cases (which means you are settling case by paying people to settle it without court)-- it is essentially negotiation. Judges are not involved. If you work something out and then don't like it later--- what you have -- is a problem.

              Some of the down sides of  collaborative law (which includes hiring people like accountants and other experts) and which makes it costly:

The Expense; Impact of termination and cost of new counsel; No advocacy for one or both parties; directed conversation between parties, power imbalances, difficult issues might remain secret (such as domestic violence, addictions, drugs, gambling, infidelities,etc.); Possible inadequate information collection, potentially less support for views of children.

Basically, in mediation there is no advocate for YOU.
In collaborative law, BOTH sides work on issues, but NO ONE is an advocate for YOUR side.
The collaborative view is to work out issues, not really take sides as an advocate----a true advocate is there to represent YOU, not the spouse.

This is part of the reason that most people in a divorce WANT an advocate, and need a litigator --- because they are being taken advantage of, steamrolled, or being misled or manipulated.

You don't have to believe attorney, look at one of my other sites for example, where it is stated in plain English, by the mediator--  that making the decisions with a mediator is not the fault of the mediator, and the mediator is quoted... (and quite frankly,the mediator does state the truth)

                        "The role of the mediator is to assist the participants reach an agreement. 

 It is not the mediator's role to give legal advice or to assure

 that the agreement is fair or equitable to either party.  

There may well be unintended consequences resulting in one or more

 of the participants suffering "buyers remorse", but they made the decision

  to accept the terms  and entered into the agreement, not the mediator..."

 Note--again, the "mediation" we are speaking of, is NOT the family law mediation process that the COURTS do, for contested custody.

       Private mediation means both parties choose to use one mediator to arrive at some agreement, and because a mediator does not dispense legal advice the way a legal advocate would do--as in actual litigation--where each party is represented by their own separate attorney-- the "mediator" himself or herself--- is only assisting both parties to REACH an agreement.
________________________________________________________________________________

***  Carefully NOTE-- the mediator does not need to assure   either party that the agreement is fair or equitable to either party. 

(Supposedly because that isn't the mediator's "role".....)

 LOL-- that's fine if you don't care what you are getting,
 or you don't know your rights and you don't care about
about that either??

 Unfortunately---if you do this and  "then" realize you lost out on something
 because you did NOT know your rights at all---then guess what???

 You are in trouble, most likely.

_________________________________________________________________________________

*** I  can almost guarantee that this  blog has more information in Northern CA on issues that arise, than the majority of  family law websites. Some attorneys do explain the laws, yes.   Attorney herein,  typically will write, argue, and inform... and help people, the purpose of the writing is to hopefully enlighten--so that you can make better decisions. Many attorneys are afraid to talk about winning and losing cases because some type of opinion could be involved, however, every client always has their own opinions, and those usually need to be understood first?

                      

NOTE: all of our content is original, if we have mentioned a subject from another site, research info or similar, we will include a link. We have no need to use other people's content and claim it is ours. In animal law we may occasionally quote, due to the specificity of the data,but there will usually be a link also.
There is one family law attorney site down in So Cal which is fantastic, and according to their site, they usually win their cases. However. what I noted from the site, previously, is that they do not take certain types of cases, including Domestic violence or Restraining Orders. They may have changed that presently though.....They appear to represent well to do clients with cases that end up winning, and they are not afraid to give the summary of why, how, when?


    All people reading and browsing should use their own diligence to obtain correct information and for checking laws, we would use findlaw.com.  If you do not have money to spend for an attorney and have been married a long time, or over 10 years, or have special needs kids, or have been abused, do NOT simply ignore the law and give your other half whatever he/she says to do. Consult an attorney to make sure you are not being screwed over and taken advantage of !!            

.... ----->>>----->>>>> and last but not least, another review from another gal that needed help and direction... The BIGGEST COMPLIMENT EVER....... Tina Taylor's Review of Attorney Chan from 2018 ....

"I spent five years embroiled in a highly contentious divorce in which I lost everything. As well, I was attacked by my ex-husband during that divorce, leaving me disabled and unable to work."

My attorney in Lassen County did nothing to address this violence and in fact colluded with the other parties counsel. Judicial misconduct also took place in this case.

Oviously, this has left me in a difficult situation both legally and financially. I've spent the better part of a year searching for legal help with no luck whatsoever......... until I called Ms. Chan. Although she is not able to take my case, due to the county where it took place, she actually talked with me..

Not only did she speak with me for more than a few minutes sharing useful information with me, she did so pleasantly, willingly and for no charge. If that wasn't already more than kind and generous, she phoned me a week later giving me the address of a website that has proved extremely helpful.
Ms. Chan's moral principles and ethics are admirable, refreshing, and deserving of respect! Additionally, I read about Ms. Chan's advocacy for animals in her bio and in my opinion, that earns her extra points as a responsible attorney and a fine human being... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Attorney posts this above---because: (a) it is true (b) things like this situation are more common than people realize (c) Lassen County is definitely corrupt

(d) attorney herein has experience in family law, civil cases, criminal defense, bankruptcy, animal law, and probably a little more.....and even if attorney does not know the answer (which happens at times)-- attorney is always willing to try and find out the answer.... (e) attorney believes that all clients appreciate it when attorney treats them like people, just normal everyday people, with common courtesy


(f) attorney believes that many clients are not treated very well by many attorneys generally (g) attorney believes that law school does not prepare attorneys to handle people at all, and that many attorneys simply believe they are too 'high' on the chain, and must talk down to people (h) attorney doesn't believe that winning is everything in all cases, but for many of the cases, it is crucial. Therefore my goal is to usually win.

Last but not least, attorney has been involved in animal law cases and related issues, and has what would be considered a very high degree of knowledge in animal law issues, including breed specific legislation, dangerous dogs, personal injuries involving dogs/animals, negligence involving animals, animal control/animals, seizures, illegal seizures, humane society groups, fraud by alleged "humane" non profits [good,bad,sued or fake], lawsuits involving animal control/animals/owners, replevin or writ of possession, abandonment/fines, rescue animals/groups [bona fide/not] issues of rational basis/health/welfare/safety, improper application of the BCS method used to convict owners, constitutional law published cases on First Amendment involving animals; issues involving service animals, therapy and emotional assist animals, vet negligence, animal abuse (or claimed abuse), penalties for alleged abuse or convictions, and more.

Did Your Ex File a Move Away...or Just Left With YOUR Kids!?

Attorney has seen cases where no one files a move away motion and one parent simply takes the kids and takes off!!? 

This is basically illegal in most cases... IF there is no marriage and no Parentage Act case filed, the county usually won't help you until you show them some legal proof that you are the actual parent. We have seen abduction cases where a parent goes to Mexico or Germany and the parent never finds the kids

...

We have also seen criminal informants be awarded custody and the other parent left in the dust?

 IF a parent does move away WITHOUT the children.... that parent would need to petition the court, usually through a divorce or parentage act case, to establish visitation.

IF one parent breaks a current court order and purposely physically removes the children to another location, city, state or country, you will need to notify the abduction unit to see if they will help you.  Normally they help those without attorneys (I say this because on the few times I have been there they did not seem to want to interact with attorneys)...

There are many different scenarios that can transpire but the worst is probably when a parent leaves the  country WITH THE KIDS!!  IF THIS HAPPENS TO YOU...YOU MUST ACT QUICKLY AND CONTACT POLICE AND THE ABDUCTION UNIT IN YOUR CITY!

 

What is An Affordable Attorney?

Original Post August 2017

"Affordable attorney" -- for divorce, custody, restraining orders, paternity and division of property--  is probably something that most people believe, doesn't really exist.
In a way, that could be correct, as most attorneys charge quite a bit when the hourly rate is considered.

Many attorneys do charge for consultations, but some do not. Most attorneys with many years of experience do charge for consults.  The real question is, how many clients can really afford an attorney without going broke?  It is this attorney's experience that many clients will expend as much as possible and then find they are broke and haven't achieved the result they wanted.

Further,  attorney herein, with about thirty years experience, has found that in nearly all cases where an opposing attorney represents the other side, this attorney's [the attorney who wrote this post] client's fees, are about  40-50% less than the opposing side, if not higher. Thus the opposing side's fees could be $8,000, but my client's fees would be about 45% less.

There are almost NO attorneys that do not charge by the hour.  Thus in order to charge a client less,
the attorney must either charge less per hour, or not charge the client for work done.

If a client has paid less for legal work,  BUT END UP GETTING THE RESULT YOU WANTED-- then you have gained  not only monetary savings, but have experienced what is like to have an attorney that actually cares about the client!!
Most attorneys are in this field for the money, and not necessarily  to produce a result; that is the opinion of attorney herein based upon years of watching the billing of other attorneys.

If you want actual, true value, and want to get more than you pay for, 

then I could possibly be a good match for your case.  

 I do not play games, and call them as I see them;  I am usually correct. 

This may result, at times, in other people or even attorneys, becoming irate under pressure.

This is nothing new to attorney herein.... 

in fact, one attorney (in court hearing)

 actually had the nerve to claim out loud-- that attorney herein

 'did not know family law' -- which is very untrue--

whereupon Judge then decided to award my client

 spousal support for 1/2 of the length of the marriage?  

We didn't expect to obtain any spousal support, as the ex had filed a DV TRO against my client, which ex's attorney just kept pushing forward (for a year, mind you) and never set a trial date.... BUT this then caused ex's  attorney to run back to his office and send attorney herein a nasty email claiming they were going to stop making 1/2 of the house payment, and evict my client? Which all went against the agreement that the other attorney himself actually devised?????Hello??!!~!

In several cases (not in Butte county), attorney herein was simply talking about the opposing party when she suddenly bolted out of her chair (she was apparently losing the case) and ran out of the courtroom! Surprisingly, that female later became a patent attorney [which is very difficult/technical, but not really an emotionally involved job!]

Call (530) 497-0777 to see if I am right!!!  As a dedicated litigator, I do not lose very often. Get results now!

Corona Virus 2021 and How It Can Affect Your Case?

Many "self-represented" litigants have very little understanding of the court system, the protocol, and what to do in Court?

This is not surprising, even with about 70% of clients representing themselves (in CA courts...)

Therefore, if you are representing yourself and cannot possibly afford an attorney, you should at least do some research to figure out how you can increase your chances in Court...this can include any motions, hearings, or documents you file, and exhibits; and if you are not sure how to represent yourself and do stand to LOSE a great deal (of either time, money, or your kids) then it is well worth your effort to pay to have someone who can bolster or increase your chances in court, if only because, the person helping you will know what she/he is doing (because she has done it for decades?!)

Attorney herein (attorney C. Chan) does help litigants win their own cases, and of course will also represent clients in entire cases as well. Some clients are better speakers than others, so if you are not good at doing that, it's best to get some help if possible.

Many times you may be forced into using what is known as "court call" which means you might not go to the court and have to do it from your home over the phone. This is not usually the best way to make your case but sometimes we don't have a choice because the Butte court is limiting litigants to around 11 people at one time in the courtroom. If you believe you need help on your case, please feel free to call--we can possibly help with suggestions that might help your case get a better result. We are very swamped like most offices but we are doing the best we can. :) We might be able to get some points clarified that would work for a judge and mediation, it's hard to say until we know what you have.