John Bednarz, P.C.

I’m not accustomed to sharing reviews, but I felt compelled to do so to share my experience with Mr. John and his wife Ms. Becky which was very professional. Mr. John was very direct and honest about the concerns I had, he returned calls and e-mails in a timely matter. There were times when my emotions ran high and he would calmly explain to me whatever the matter was according to how the legal system functions without any frustration. When I hired him to represent me I knew that it was not going to be cheap! BUT there is no price to high for me to get my daughter back. I can honestly say I am satisfied with John and Becky service, and highly recommend anyone looking for honesty, integrity and professionalism for family law situations to call them. Have a pleasant day☀️

I hired John to represent me in family court for my parenting time, legal decision making, and child support. I did some research on local lawyers and spoke to him on the phone. Things that I liked right off the bat were the reviews online, his lengthy experience with this type of case and his immediate availability. I rely heavily on reviews so I looked at multiple places for cross referencing and everything seemed to check out.
I did feel like John had my best interest at first and during the process something changed. His attitude changed towards the case as well as this attitude on how he was dealing with me. I questioned one thing that I was charged for and it seemed like everything after that point completely changed. He started charging for absolutely everything under 'John's fee'. I believe it was something like $35 to forward any email to me, $100 for me to drop documents off at his office. He would sit in his office and tell me stories of his grandkids and of his other clients and I would be charged his $360 hour rate for that time. During the initial meeting we had I remember asking specifically if he had a paralegal that helped with some of the tasks and he mentioned his wife Becky and said she helped out here and there but come-to-find-out he charges "John's rate" for everything that is done.
One of the court virtual meetings John had forwarded me a number to call in. When I got on call the judge asked why I wasn't on video chat. Unfortunately, It made me look unprepared and avoidant, which was not the case by any means.
During our very last hearing John spent hours and hours (based on what I was billed for) preparing for the final case. When we went in, he submitted every text message between my childs father and I (1 years worth) which the opposing counsel skimmed through on their laptop and used multiple parts of MY evidence against me. When evidence was used against me to prove the other sides point, he never reviewed and clarified any of the statements to the judge.
Based on all of the interactions and documentation between my son's father and I this should have been easily swayed in my favor (ex had recent DUI, texts of him guilty of coercion, and multiple examples of contempt of court to name a few things). Instead I walked into that courtroom completely feeling unprepared. The only thing I was told to focus on to prepare for court was "make a timeline of events". I did have a timeline prepared but there are so many other things that would have helped in court that I was completely not prepared for.
In the end, the cost was about 50% more than he had originally quoted me on 'what the case should cost', with no additional court dates or reasons for this to be higher. About a week after receiving the judgement I had emailed John asking if he knew why my ex would get to claim my son for 3 consecutive years on taxes, he has just completely ignored my email and why the judgement was so far in his favor. He just completely ignored me.
I just wanted to put my experience out there because if i would have read a current review that was honest and stated these types of behaviors I may have not trusted all of these perfect reviews that this lawyer has. I just feel like in the end he did not do me justice, I'm not sure he really cared much if my case went well or not.
In some cases experience isn't everything. I don't like feeling taken-advantage-of so I hope this helps someone out there who may weigh heavy on the reviews, like I do. Kindly,

What an unfortunate experience choosing John. We gave John a $3500 retainer (the amount he specified to handle the custody hearing) for a Temporary custody hearing. John gave us some packets to fill out. John answered No in the appropriate place for the various allegations in the summons paperwork and placed a couple of phone calls to us. 2 months before the hearing with more than $800 left in the retainer trust account John or his wife emailed for an additional $1250 to be deposited or he would withdraw from the case. After explaining it would take time for us to come up with the funds (there was still more than a month until the hearing and he still had $800 unaccounted for in his billing) we where notified that he was motioning the Court to withdraw from the case. If you need someone you can count on when you need it.. look elsewhere.