Moon, Schwartz & Madden

Working with John Madden was an excellent experience. He was readily available by e mail and kept us posted at every step. As a note, at the start of our work with him there was considerable confusion about the QRDO since it was filed after the deadline. However, Mr Madden create an excellent solution and he even consulted another tax attorney to be certain. This was a necessary but unpleasant task that Mr Madden changed into a positive experience.
In a nutshell … he is an excellent professional.

Reg previous review. Yes it was scary. But later it turned out to be better. I think John is very knowledgeable but he is never available on phone to discuss. Only way is long email in which he will respond to the points he like and ignores the points he does not want to address. If he does not want to address he will give a generic reply with no definite answer.
Yes but to previous people review i think we was fair and he does respond via email only. No calls entertained.

I agree with the experience that many have had here, there’s little more to add. I wasn’t surprised to see other 1 star reviews. I daresay they are in a «captive» market for QDROs.

I’m not sure what’s going on with these comment but I have never had a problem with «John C. Madden» at Moon Schwartz & Madden. I worked at a family law office and he always provided me/​us with awesome service! I would contact him often to ask him questions for the attorney. He answered my emails promptly! He would call and have telephone consults on the phone when our clients were in the office for their appt’s making it very convenient for everyone. He was very knowledgeable! Once he was on vacation and answered my email! Now that’s service, come on folks! Call his office and ask him to give you a call. Leave a message he will call you back.

Well, I’ve seen what others have written, and I can’t say I agree completely. There does seem to be a little difficulty getting started. But once underway, it’s fairly painless.
My attorney chose this company to do the QDRO for both me and my Ex. As soon as possible, I initiated the process to ensure my holdings. I was told I would need a statement showing that there was a pension in place and then they could go forward. There were also intake forms which must not have been all that dramatic because I honestly don’t remember much about them.
The documents they drew up for me to send to the pension fund were accepted by the pension funds attorneys the very first time.
My QDRO is in place, time simply has to pass and the benefit will be felt.
The fee for my QDRO was reasonable, I think.
I had no problem with my fee check getting to and being accepted by them. Perhaps sending it by registered mail would be a good idea if one felt insecure about that part of the process.
Be your own best advocate in any situation where you’re requiring legal work to be done in your behalf. Sound a little demanding if need be. I didn’t find myself in the position of being ignored. I have had to ask for emailed documents to be re-​emailed because I didn’t get them. But all was cleared up quickly and I do have success.

We had a similar experience with Moon Schwartz and Madden. They lost our check, said they would take five days to give us a report — and it has been now six weeks and we still don’t have it. They don’t return calls.

I have had the absolute worst experience of any company in Orinda in my 18 years living here with this firm. This company never returns phone calls or emails. They refuse to produce an accounting of my charges when requested multiple times. I went to the office to make another payment. I knocked and knocked and no one answered. Finally, after more than 5 minutes of waiting, the door was opened. The female office manager was rude and simply unprofessional. The principal was visible from where I was standing, outside his personal office inside the overall small office, and refused to get up from his chair or greet me despite being paid thousands of dollars for services. This was an absolutely unprofessional experience. I would do everything in my power to choose any other firm, any other firm. I intend to file complaints with both the Orinda chamber of commerce and the better business bureau about the terrible customer service and completely dissatisfying experience received by this unprofessional firm. If given an opportunity to evaluate them with ZERO stars on Unilocal,that would be my evaluation of their services.

I wish I could say how good these people were, BUT I have been trying to finalize my QDRO for the past 3 years and NEVER get a call or information back. They just took our money and that’s it.
I guess it is time to go back to court AGAINST them!!!

A QDRO, for those fortunate enough not to need one, is a Qualified Domestic Relations Order. It is used when people are getting a divorce and there is a pension fund or retirement account as part of the marital assets.
This is the place our attorneys sent us for the QDRO on our divorce.
If the goal is to be uncommunicative, opaque, and as confusing as possible these guys hit it out of the park. It takes multiple phone calls leaving messages on their machine to get an acknowledgement that they got an email.
To be fair, they may not be worse than any other QDRO outfit. Divorce in California is a racket.