I have worked with several law firms over the years and Don Ford and his team at Ford + Bergner are ethical, caring, and true experts in estate and guardianship litigation. I highly recommend them to anyone who needs the best firm by their side. read more

I waited to see if Ford+Bergner would respond to a third request for billing information and to date I have not heard back from them. Here is my story: I talked with Don Ford about doing a prenup prior to my wedding. Don told me it would cost $4,500 to $5,000 depending on how much negotiation would take place between them and my future wife's lawyer. That was the last time I talked with Don. After sending them my financial information all communication was with Luis (I am guessing an intern). The prenup was straight forward. Nothing complicated. I sent Luis a list of my assets and my future wife's assets. The first version of the prenup I got had the name of someone else's estate. I get that, it was probably a copy of a previous prenup that was modified and the name was missed. Luis and I exchanged 3-4 emails with corrections and clarifications over several weeks. Luis apologized at one point saying he had been busy and missed an email. Once the small handful of changes were updated the prenup was sent to my future wife's lawyer. They responded with some wording changes that were accepted by me and incorporated into the prenup. Luis then sent an email out to coordinate a meeting to execute the prenup. When we were about 2 weeks from our wedding so I told Luis we would get the prenup notarized without legal representation. Luis sent me some specific instructions for doing this and we got it done without a problem days before our wedding. After the wedding I got an invoice from Ford+Bergner for $6,700! I immediately emailed Don asking for an explanation since the whole process appeared to me to go smoothly and no back and forth with the other law firm. I asked for a breakdown of the $6,700 fee. A week goes by with no reply. I sent a second note and got an email from Don after another week goes by. He says it is very hard for them to predict how much time it is going to take but he reduced the fee to $5,750. The following day I get a new invoice for $5,750 and interestingly listed as a "Flat Fee". No breakdown of the new invoice. I paid the fee and once again asked for a breakdown of the bill. It was not a Flat Fee when I originally spoke with Don. The executive assistant responded and said she would forward my request to the accounting department. It has been a week since that request and I have not heard anything more. It appears my experience echoes what others are saying. If you are considering Ford+Bergner, decided if you want to deal with their billing practices. Update: Almost 2 weeks and the accounting department has not responded. This is disappointing but fits with what others have said about this outfit. read more

I wish I had read these reviews before I chose them- i learned the hard way - Another attorney quickly finished probating my dad's estate. In response to Tyler, my last name was different when I worked with them. I do appreciate them responding to my review- I used them in 2022. Not a mistake. It was not just that it took too long, which it did- It was the estimate was meaningless- the cost for the other attorneys to review my attorney's work, them doing work I should have been allowed to do , and they said I couldn't( they were wrong) , and my attorney being away from work for periods of time. My list is longer, to be honest. Not every law firm is a good fit for every client- Let's leave it at that. read more

They are very good at over billing. We paid them over $10,000 and in an estate case and they have basically done nothing. Don talked to us on the first visit and then just passed us along to the new interns. What a waste of time and money. They sent emails that weren't approved by us and billed us for that too. This firm is just a money pit. We are currently looking for a real attorney to sue them. read more

Company was attentive with assisting me with my family business needs and planning for the future. Saved me thousands!

When I did not see the direction that my Father's Estate should have been going I reached out to Don Ford who I quickly felt more comfortable with as I knew he was doing everything the way it should be. His expertise was called upon when I unfortunately had to hire an attorney to help prove that much of my Father's Estate was mishandled by previous attorneys. Unfortunately not all attorneys have the knowledge to handle a difficult Estate case . I am truly Blessed I found Don Ford. read more

We hired Ford + Bergner about a year and a half ago for a property title transfer case. Before we signed the contract they were very pleasant and attentive, replying to emails promptly etc... Once the contract was signed and the retention check was cashed we had a completely different experience. Our first dealings were with Don Ford who assigned the case to Jacob Franklin. We received emails from Mr. Franklin on a monthly basis with excuses why the work was not progressing, either he was sick or he was busy with other clients and had no time to address our case. The outrageous aspect of it, is that we continued to receive invoices on a monthly basis for the time it took Mr. Franklin to write the multiple emails telling us that he had no time for us. Mr. Ford quoted us an approximate cost to complete the work. Fourteen months later, we paid more than two and a half times that estimate, and the title was still not transferred. I decided to contact Mr. Ford since Mr. Franklin was not getting the job done. I never received a reply from Don Ford. We finally had someone else finish the work. We are completely dissatisfied with Ford + Bergner and regret hiring them. We wasted time and money. read more

I would leave a 0 if I could. Don Ford is the epitome of a unethical and unprofessional Attorney. I had a Guardianship case with his firm. My Mom only lived 19 months under the Guardianship but the case took 3yrs due to incompetence from Ford's office. TEN Attorney's billed on the case over 3 1/2 yrs. 7 out of the 10 were literally new Attorneys - literally just out of school. The estate was worth little comparatively speaking and had few bills a month as she lived in a senior facility. Simple accounting - should have been simple Annual Accounting submitted to Court yet the Probate Auditor from the Court had to tell Ford FOUR times to submit Annual Accounting in proper Court - statutory form. We were being billed over and over for same poorly submitted accounting. Out of 167.75 hrs billed only 28 hrs were support staff billings - all the new Attorney hires did support staff work, but billed at Attorney rate. Ford had a hourly rate increase of 28% over 2 1/2 years; an Associate Attorney 55% increase and 1 lucky Associate Attorney had a 66% hour rate increase over 2 1/2 yes. Never once were we notified of fee changes. Judge signed an order reducing fees by 25%. Ford says tough - disregards Judge's order. Ford and how that office is run is the epitome of all the horrible stereotypes of an unethical Attorney. There are plenty of good Attorneys out there - move on from this firm. read more