Shaun Hanson

Shaun is a good attorney.
But his paralegal Dana is extremely rude & terrifying to work with and when it came down to going to court for the final time, Shaun will bail on you & pass you off to one of his other attorneys to give into the opposing attorney & not follow through with the plan & promises that Shaun had previously made with you.
The whole experience left me broke & Shaun, my ex & her attorney far better off financially.
If I were to have to recommend an attorney, I would recommend my ex wife’s attorney Novak.
He’s a real slim ball, but he gets the job done.
No thanks
Russ

Family Law is tough in Cali and the only ones winning are the lawyers! So, these reviews that rant on about losing just don’t make sense, both respondent and petitioner lose. However, I will agree to some extent about this firm’s method of business but this can be said for almost ALL Family Law Firms. They are not in business for a higher calling of law; they are in this to make money.
When you sign a contract with a firm it stipulates that any member of the firm may represent you. You don’t have to sign it. I think Shaun’s reputation for settling divorces locked in dispute speaks for itself. He is good at what he does in Family Court. You have to trust an attorney and if you don’t you can let them go, they work for you.
I agree with a negative comment about Shaun’s paralegal. At times I felt she was rude and disrespectful however, I do not feel her demeanor was a personal attack. I’m not easy to deal with and she is who she is, and I think she is okay but willing to waste your time and money, likes any paralegal. When my case was over I actually told Shaun that he would be a top notch firm if he let her go.
Shaun took my case after my previous attorney robbed me blind and he agreed to a set amount to get my case resolved, I had nothing more to give. Please note that my case was set for trial which made this agreement possible, not a stupid mandatory settlement conference. He was able to get my ex-wife’s attorney to stop his BS and get the court to do what it was supposed to, rule.
They would get five stars however they sent me a bill that threatened to take me to collections after we had an agreed set amount. We did resolve the issue and I am overall pleased with this firm. Good luck out there on the dissolution battlefield.

DO NOT USE THIS FIRM!!! I decided to go with «Shawn» bcuz he was so confident about my case being a black and white slam dunk. He told me he needed a retainer and that I would actually get money back. once he received my retainer it was like trying to reach the president trying to get in contact with him again. You can not call and leave a message for him. He passed me on to his dumb sidekick“Danica” whom if you are a woman, her extreme low self esteem will show each and every time you speak to her or see her. she tells down to you and your family like she’s better than you and has NOT obvious reason to be like that judging by her appearance and knowledge. This woman couldn’t stand up for me in court if her life depended on it. She wouldn’t even present to the judge the hard evidence in which I had to provide her. she did no let work on her own, was unprepared. did not prep my mom for going on the stand as a witness, did not look into the case to make sure she was prepared. etc. I could have had more defense if I would represented myself!!! not to mention the fact that immediately after them taking over the case they started sending me bills, and for bogus inaccurate amounts. I called in numerous times only to be forced to play they’re ridiculous message games and asked that «Shawn» who I hired… to actually represent me bcuz there was an obvious conflict with his peon DANICA… he had every excuse in the book to not handle my case. its obvious he’s a first stop for right out of law school «little girls» to try and defend people with serious matters. bcuz of them, I am now «unprotected» from a known felon and murderer who beat me repeatedly and broke bones and who owns a motorcycle business in old town temecula and will have to seek a new route to take for me and my daughters personal protection!!! BEWARE of these scam artist attorneys!!!

I was in need of a good divorce and custody attorney. Never having gone through a divorce before, I had no idea who to go to. I was referred to Shaun Hanson via a 3^rd party court reporter. (Seemed like a good person to trust). I never looked at these reviews before going. Costly mistake and I’m no better off for any of it! Everything bad in the reviews that I read below is exactly what I experienced! The bait and switch sums this place up perfectly.
During my initial consultation– both Sean and his paralegal Vivian couldn’t have been more agreeable and charming! I explained to them both how my soon to be ex is a narcissistic and abusive fireman. I informed Shaun that my ex had threatened to pay minimal alimony and child support through a program called the Smith Ossler– which is something firemen use to separate their base and overtime checks with. I explained how crucial my financial situation was as an unemployed –newly single mother. Shaun blew out a haughty retort about how he’d worked with «HUNDREDS» of cases like mine and that he knew EXACTLY how to handle fireman etc. He seemed arrogant, but isn’t that what you WANT in an attorney? Unfortunately, I was falsely lead to believe that I was in great hands.
He gave me the whole song and dance as he typed in my ex husbands figures based on his tax documents. He confidently threw out a monthly figure that was considerably high. He announced that he could get me «AT LEAST that amount –or more per month». He acted like I had nothing to worry about and that all the things I feared would never come to fruition with HIM on the case.
Needless to say, divorce is exhausting enough all by itself under the BEST circumstances. I had only been to one other consultation, but Shaun seemed so confident of my case I really felt he seemed like a good fit. I signed up with my $ 2,500.00 retainer– which seemed like a good deal at the time. (Little did I know that their office rates were nearly DOUBLE most other offices I later compared them to –or that my retainer would be BLOWN through in about 2.5 seconds flat with nothing to show for it).
Things started to go downhill very quickly as I began the process with Shaun’s assistant, Vivian (his paralegal/​secretary). She was a real snippy witch to deal with– and SHE’S the one you had to go through for EVERYTHING. If I ever asked a question or had her repeat anything, she would sigh and roll her eyes like I was an idiot for not being a veteran at all these details. Details and protocol that for ME– were life altering! Every time I spoke to her she was very abrupt and condescending. (Sorry to bother you at $ 220 an hour -$ 375 for Shaun)
Also after discussing my abusive situation with my ex, Vivian had me write a 3 page document of detailed accounts to possibly bring to the table for my case. I spent countless hours and STRESS of re-​living each of these emotional accounts as I wrote them all. I even came in after being told it needed revisions.
I realize now that this was just another way to rack up my hourly fees or at least it would seem so. Once I officially spoke to the «mediator» (what a joke) at the court house– he abruptly dismissed my documentation because none of it was supported with police reports. Hmm… wouldn’t you think that my LAW office would have known this too? Just a thought. $
Finally the biggest slap in the face was when Mr. Hansen set up a «4 way conference» with my ex and his attorney with me. The idea was to go back and forth with his attorney to come to an agreement for child support and alimony.
Guess what? I was NEVER consulted during this «consultation» at all! I was merely informed AFTER the fact that he had agreed with opposing– that the Smith Ossler payment plan was the best way to go. This was EXACTLY what Shaun promised me he would NOT do! He fast talked his way into making it seem to my benefit– but my set monthly payment was less than HALF of what he promised me would be NO problem at all. What boggled my mind is that he didn’t even TRY to get what he promised me. Didn’t even CONSULT me for ONE second about what he felt should happen or what I felt for that matter.
He told me I could go back to court for a repeal if I disagreed with the decision. What?! So then what was whole purpose of the «4 WAY CONSULTATION» if I never had a chance to consult? Just to repeal? To charge me more money for doing opposite what he promised? I had already blown through my retainer with absolutely NOTHING he had promised me at all to show for it.
Soon after this I had a court hearing to appear in front of the judge with my ex to confirm the agreement. Shaun sent in his partner attorney who I’d never even met before. He was nice enough– but then again there wasn’t much to be proven at that point. I had given up trying to repeal anything, as I had NO MORE MONEY TO DO IT WITH!
Now I cant even garnish because the Smith Ossler is a mystery to the system. Great Job guys! Money blown.

BEWARE of this law firm… The only time you see Mr. Hanson is when u get the initial consultation and then you don’t see or speak to him again until u go in front of a judge… they nickle and dime you and when u need to speak to the lawyer they are no where to be found… its always the paralegal u deal with that charges a ridiculous rate per hour for the minimal work of data entry & message relay… I was lucky that I got out early and not 6k-​10K later. I would not recommend this firm… they treat you like an invoice and good luck trying to speak to the lawyer after you have paid them the retainer.

If I could rate «0» stars for this law firm, I would.
I hired Mr. Hanson and his firm to represent me in what should’ve been a cut and dry custody case. I had previously had 80%+ custody of my son, when his father moved back to the area and decided he now wanted ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ (i’m sure to avoid paying child support). I stressed to the courts that this was a challenge for my son (who was only a toddler) to go from living primarily with me to now being shuffled house-​to-​house every 3 days. Mr. Hanson assured me that he agreed this situation was not suitable, and that we could contest the mediator’s recommendation in court. I guess what he meant by contest was that I could roll over and submit to the judge when it actually came time to go in front of the judge –because that’s exactly what Mr. Hanson did. When the judge (who was new to the family law bench) stated that he was following the mediator’s recommendation (the same mediator that has several grievances and complaints filed against him), Mr. Hanson didn’t make a peep. Just asked that a «90 day review» of this arrangement be made. But as anyone in law will tell you — once a court makes a ruling, they hardly ever go back on it without damaging evidence. So here were are 6 months later, $ 6k later, and my ex has ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ of our son. And my son is now regressing in his behavior and can’t understand why he’s split between two homes all of a sudden. Thanks, Shaun.
Meanwhile, while the 90 day trial period was underway, my ex submitted a declaration to the court accusing me of abuse, racism, and a bunch of other unreasonable things (he was grasping at straws,) and the paralegal from this office calls me to «discuss» them — I put discuss in quotations because what I really mean is that SHE continued to accuse ME, and took my ex’s words as truth rather than asking me my side of the story. I was 39 weeks pregnant and she basically told me, «well you’ve lost the case now just so you know. we should just call opposing counsel now and agree to 50÷50» I’m sorry — but who am I paying you to represent? I was hysterical and emotional and could not believe she approached me in that way. I was so shaken up because I knew what the truth was! And here she was taking my exhusbands side. While was paying her $ 200+ an hour to read the court documents.
I show up to court only to find out that Mr. Hanson had had supposedly had some kind of motorcycle accident and wouldn’t be there to represent me at the hearing that day — his partner, Mr. Bradford would. Mr Bradford showed up 90 minutes late and basically took advantage of my pregnant emotional state and told me not to go in front of the judge — to agree to the ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ arrangement and be done with it. I told him I would keep the current arrangement (which was technically I had 57% or something random,) if the schedule of the visits could be changed — instead of 3 days on 3 days off, could the schedule be one week on one week off. Mr Bradford said sure! No problem! Come to find out, this made the custodial timeshare an even ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ percentage, meaning I lost primary custodianship of my child. And now to enroll him in school next year, I will have to pay the courts (and another attorney) for a 730 custodial evaluation, which is upwards of $ 10k. The representation of this firm is horrific — they look at you as a number, an invoice, a payment — they don’t take the time to get to know your case or your end goal. Their end goal is just getting paid. Period.
I spoke two Mr. Hanson TWICE between October and May — once at our consult in October, once at the hearing in November — and never again. All of that for over $ 6k in work.
On top of that, the child support was revised based on the 50% arrangement. Shaun and his paralegals could not figure out how to read my ex husband’s LES (military pay stub,) or my disability pay stub (I am since remarried and now on maternity leave from my job). It took me pointing out errors to THEM to get the revisions and the numbers corrected. Three drafts of child support numbers had to be made before they could figure it out — oh and don’t worry, they charged me for all 3 revisions. Even the time spent correcting THEIR errors.
I received an email from the paralegal yesterday saying I had 10 days to pick up my file since they had «removed themselves from the case,» and if I didn’t pick up the file within 10 days, the file would be shredded. I picked up the file today — barely a binder-​full of information.
And when I got home? A $ 450 bill was waiting for me in the mail — charging me for the letter they wrote to me saying they were withdrawing as representation on this case as it is their «procedure,» charging me for preparing my final file — and then charging me for things I paid for on my LAST invoice. I don’t think so.
I am no better off in my custodial case with this law firm than I was when I started over 6 months ago. Please please please heed my advice and stay AWAY from this law firm!

Shaun, Erik and Devon (the whole staff, actually) have been a huge support to me during my divorce. They assisted me in the endless amounts of paperwork, replied promptly to all my questions, and represented me in a manner I could be proud of. They kept my side of the case fair and honest… values I view as important in all aspects of life.
I appreciate the year and a half of loyalty they have shown me and will never hesitate to recommend them to anyone in need of legal advice.