I retained the services of Mr. Zigler, a lawyer in Mr. Stenzel's firm, to represent me on a relocation case. My contract for services was with the Stenzel Law Office. Below is my experience with Mr. Zigler, which may have gone differently had Mr. Stenzel been aware of what was going on and intervened on my behalf before the trial's conclusion. Barring that, he also has not responded to my request for a refund, although it is worth mentioning that Mr. Zigler did leave Mr. Stenzel's employment shortly after this happened:



I hired Mr. Zigler to represent me on a relocation case. He assured me that I had a legal right to move with my daughter, as the custodial parent, and that I had a solid case. He even told me that the opposing counsel didn't understand the law. It went all the way to trial, and it turns out that I didn't have grounds to move with my daughter after all. Much of the evidence that would have helped my case was not admitted because Mr. Zigler didn't follow the rules of evidence. The judge scolded him time and time again for not asking questions properly (she even told him exactly what to say in some cases) and for arguing "the wrong case". In the end, the judge not only ruled against me but ordered me to pay all of the opposing counsel's fees (nearly $17,000 on top of the $12,500 that I already paid Mr. Zigler.) Mr. Zigler didn't advise me that I had to tell the judge I would stay prior to her ruling if I wanted to go back to our old parenting plan (a new change in the law, just prior to trial), so even though I told him immediately afterwards that I wasn't moving and wanted to rescind my petition, it was already too late. I ended up losing custody of my daughter and getting only minimal visitation, as if I had moved out of state, even though I stayed right here. I had to pay yet another attorney over $5,000 to renegotiate the plan with my ex where I got all my visitation back but still cannot regain custody.



I would not recommend the Stenzel Law Office to anyone.