Mr.pate is very knowledgeable and helpful. I dealt closely with his paralegal Angelica she is also amazing. The secretary Delaney is also great gets back to you as fast as possible. Everyone in this office is great including ms.knott which covered for mr.pate while he was on vacation. My divorce was messy and they made sure to take the time to make sure i was completely happy and my children are taken care of. His rates arent cheap but you get what you pay for.

Thank you Karen S for the review. I am unable to respond to your specific review, as you are aware the process of mediation is confidential. Further, based upon that confidentiality, you are aware that third parties cannot participate. In general, I can respond that a mediator's role is to advise clients as to their risks and possible outcomes if they proceed to court. The court is charged with the responsibility to determine what is defined as a marital asset and divide all assets as a whole equitably. The value received from one asset may not reflect the division as a whole. As a mediator, I do not have any personal gain or benefit whether a case is settled or not and absolutely no personal motivation to coerce settlement and neither does an attorney involved in the process. In fact, the opposite is true for counsel representing parties, as if the case progresses forward, an attorney can make further income from the continued litigation. It is always a difficult time when an individual is going through a divorce, and I am hopeful that with further negotiations you can reach a compromise and settlement.

My attorney recommended Heather. In mediation she turned against me and her AND MY ATTORNEY tried to convince me to take the lowball offer my ex was offering for equity in our paid for house. $35,000! I refused and had someone there with me I wanted to consult with and she was very bullying trying to keep me in the room so I wouldn’t talk to the person I brought. Anyway, I finally told her I’m done and walked out. The next offer from Ex a few months later was $70,000. It’s still too low but it is DOUBLE what she and my attorney tried to get me to take. Had I listened to her bullying tactics I would have walked away with $35000 while my ex would have gotten our $190,000 paid for house.

Saw Heather for divorce mediation. She kindly helped us smooth out a rough process. She did a Very good job. Thank you!

Mrs. Knott was just incredibly easy to talk to throughout my meditation process. She is sooo nice, yet very truthful about the whole thing. She was just so pleasant today and made the mediation that I was dreading so much just look and seem so simple. Very pleased with my meditation today. Thank you, Mrs Knott.

Ms. Knott, a friend of my daughter. Was kind enough to do some quick paper work for us.

My family and I cannot say enough great things about this law firm. Mr. Pate and Heather are very personable. They care about the best outcome for the child. Some of the nicest people you can meet in one of the hardest times of your life.

I have hired Mr. Pate a few times. Some cases we won, some we didn’t. But he worked hard for me. Very smart man.

My experience was using Heather as a mediator. Everyone spoke highly of her, including my lawyers. Unfortunately we seemed to get her on a bad week. My lawyers submitted a mediation statement a week before our scheduled appointment. It quickly became evident by the questions she was asking during the actual mediation that she had not read any of it. Apparently there was some mix up with her staff not giving it to her. All that time my lawyers spent on preparing that statement was for nothing.

Our mediation appointment was a complete waste of time and money (a significant amount of money). I am a single mom and every dollar is hard earned so this was devastating.

We ended up working things out during a meeting of me and my ex and our two lawyers. I wish we had never tried mediation. I definitely would never use Ms. Knott again.

Mr. Pate was not only very knowledgable and professional, but is respected by and has great working relationships with the judges and DAs (at least in Rutherford County) that allow him to quickly and fairly get issues resolved in a way that I never would have been able to do by myself. All while being a stand-up guy and not judging me too harshly for making the mistakes I had already made before coming to him! I definitely recommend Stephen Pate to anyone looking for an attorney in Rutherford County.

The best recommendation can only come from the other party...