********s List.......

Don't feel bad if you have never heard of G.P.P Attorneys, it's probably for the best. If you can help it, when you do come across them, pretend you didn't.

I enlisted their services to defend me in an uncontested divorce matter. When I got there, they seemed to be credible and above board. The attorney Mr Pillay was an elderly and very esteemed looking gentlemen that presented himself as a concerned father type figure who was out to serve my best interest because he could empathise with my situation and circumstances.

He was assisted by a grown women, a women that he very proudly stated had passed her law exams with 40 distinctions. So I had every confidence that I was going to be helped in a professional manner.

Boy was I wrong. This lawyer spent months asking me the same questions over and over again, to the point were even I wasn't sure what to say anymore. Because when he asked me whether I wanted certain things, I said no and he accepted this. Only to have him come back a week later and ask me the same question. Eventually I started doubting myself. This process of agreeing on one path of action and promptly back-tracking happened more often than not with him. Which I found quite sketchy and *****. He was sickly at the time, he needed eye surgery and he was apparently suffering so I felt bad and I didn't chase him as hard. But if I had known that in the end I would receive an exorbitant bill after being played for a fool for months I wouldn't have cared less about his health.

He used to be on calls with my husbands divorce attorney and then end up speaking about her as if she was perhaps his best buddy from law school. Because ever since they first spoke he was more than happy to string me along and ask the same old silly questions over and over again. He never could figure out how to read an e-mail. He never answered calls. His genius apprentice only ever responded to e-mails on a two week turn around time frame and in the end when you get the bill you understand why it's very profitable for divorce lawyers to delay. It makes absolute business sense for them to drag their heels on sending e-mail after e-mail asking the same questions for months. Because you get charged for those e-mails. And you get charged for questioning the content of the e-mails and why they are asking you the same questions over and over again. And you get charged when you decide to change lawyers because then they ask you to pay money to give you your file so you can move on to the next lawyer. When you ask for their bill to be set for taxation so it can be reviewed, they inform you that you will be liable for a further 10.6 % to have the bill drawn. And you still are not guaranteed to receive any of your money back for the services which they charge you for and don't deliver.

At the very outset I asked to be given an indication of the fees. I also asked what I owed for that initial consultation and was told that they never bill anything until the job is done. Which they will say to you with big sincere smiles on their faces leading you to assume that they really are such upstanding professionals.

But what you don't realise is that they drag the matter out until you have no money left for food or to pay your rent before your divorce is even concluded.

In total, I endured their unprofessionalism for about 4 months. Then I couldn't take it any more. I had to pay them what they asked for and change attorneys because of poor service and non-delivery. Lawyers will readily accuse you of being a bad client when you question them about the delays and money grubbing tactics.

I felt the need to post here just to make sure I share my experience with anybody who might currently be considering a divorce. Perhaps due to the current economic circumstances and the strain which is bound to be placed on marriages as a result of such circumstances. Please do your due diligence when considering who you will enlist for this service.

People are out to make money, divorce is an emotional and turbulent proceeding and there is no shortage of "professionals" waiting for a chance to take advantage of people in bad and uncomfortable situations.

G.P.P came very highly recommended to me by a psychiatrist I had been advised to go see in order to receive counselling about the stress associated with a divorce. A close family member had advised me to go to said psychiatrist. The psychiatrist told me about Mr Pillay and said that he was very professional and very reliable and also portrayed him to be a caring man with good values. He mentioned that they were friends and knew each other very well.

I have since realised that family should never be trusted to give advice on such things.

Good luck to you! I sincerely hope your experiences with divorce lawyers are better than mine.