There isn't an option for NO STARS! Now that my probate estate case is finally closed and my settlement has been received I feel a sense of total relief that this individual is finally OUT OF MY LIFE! There is no short version of this story & the nightmare I lived. If I were to offer one..."STAY AS FAR AWAY FROM MR MADERIOUS AS YOU CAN" If only I had read these Yelp reviews before I enlisted his assistance, I would never have hired him. Every negative review posted here is accurate because I lived it! He did everything possible to drag out my case including making statements that were not true, in an effort to pit my sister against me... it didn't work. As he began to play his little control games, having never gone thru this before I felt trapped in this nightmare and I was unable to find anyone in the legal world that would provide any information regarding what my rights were as Administrator of the estate. He used that to his advantage & made every attempt to try and keep me in line & prevent me from asking too many questions by numerous lectures and numerous threats of removal as administrator should I challenge his position. As things started moving along & we got a court date, I told myself the end is near, just hang in there. Then he blew the initial court date to grant me Administrator because his neighborhood was forced to evacuate due to a nearby fire threat which fizzled out. I was understanding to a point but after this happened I witnessed two things, incompetence and arrogance. Incompetence because he did not have a back up plan in place to ensure his presence with the court via zoom or at least by phone conference. Arrogance because he assumed from his no-show for court that the clerk would simply reschedule for the following week or two at the most. Instead of following up with the court he just said be patient. After three weeks of nothing I ended up contacting the court myself only to find out my case was rejected due to a no-show from the attorney. Just plain arrogance. After another two weeks of apparent misfiled paperwork we got another court date and another five month wait. Not his finest hour. So I began researching how I could get rid of him. I initially reached out to other local legal entities for help but no one would touch it. During these communications with other attorneys I never mentioned a name, but one attorney knew exactly who he was in just hearing my story. Apparently he has a bit of a reputation even within the legal community, and I'll just leave it a that So five more months of my life passed and I was granted administrator by the court and proceeded to do my job. He began to scrutinize everything I was doing, using his legal jargon to try and intimidate me and again threaten that I would be removed as administrator by the courts if I did not abide by his instructions. I kept telling myself it's almost done, just hang in there a little longer. After a number of go-arounds involving myself & a real estate agent of my choosing highly recommended from a friend, it became very clear that he was going to do all he could to discredit my realtor, replace him with a known affiliate in an effort to take advantage of the "Hot Market" to get as much money as possible for the two properties I was selling. There are so many more details during these real estate transactions but there simply isn't enough time or space here. It became obvious that it was all about the money for him. As the threats & badgering continued I even considered another possible motive for his actions were if he thought he could try to create enough disruption within my duties he might have a case to have me removed by the courts giving him complete control of my brothers estate. I know I'm not the legal expert here & I'm sure any who are would say he just can't do that. But my point here is regarding the ploys this guy uses to try and take advantage & control. After many sleepless nights I decided I MUST get this guy out of my life. So I first filed a complaint of misconduct with the Cal. State Bar Assoc. against Mr. Maderious. Currently this investigation is still underway. Six weeks of searching, I was lucky enough to find a new probate lawyer and get Mr. Maderious replaced without issue. The court closed my case, I received my settlement and I have my life back again. There are so many more fine details that would further substantiate this story but as God is my witness Mr. Maderious made my life a total nightmare for almost two years. Sadly, it didn't have to be this way, but some people are just the way they are and I want nothing further to do with him or anyone like him. read more

The worst lawyer ever. Had my step mother commit perjury to try and sway the judge his way. Per our professional friends we were told to record all our meetings with our step mother. He tried to bully us into letting our step mother handle all the money. At the same time he was requesting a percentage of the life insurance. We had to get another lawyer to fight him and in the end we won. He only received his fees and she received no monetary from his life insurance. read more

This attorney is very rude and self centered. I would never talk to him again or be near him with a ten foot pole. There has got to be more conscientious attorneys to help people. Not this one!!!! read more

I have worked with many attornies over the past two years due to two legal problems I have had - the only legal problems I have ever had in my life. There are bad attornies and good attornies. When you get an unscrupulous, greedy or unskilled attorney they can ruin your life or at best decimate your finances. Finding a really good, honest, skilled attorney with lots of integrity is like finding a Unicorn. John is a Unicorn - and a professional, kind and highly intelligent one at that. He is also well very connected with the judges, other trust attornies, Fiduciaries and even knows the Probate Court clerks by name! My matter of dealing with a badly written trust and dealing with a corrupt Fiduciary was complicated. I had met with several attornies prior to meeting with John. John was the only one that gave me sound, quality, helpful advice without any puch to use him or his service. He renewed my faith in lawyers as human beings. I highly recommend him if you have a matter dealing with or creating a Trust. read more

John helped me through a complex, two-year disbursement that involved probate, liquidation of a jewelry store, a relative contesting the estate, depositions, working with a tax attorney to negotiate a settlement of several hundred thousand dollars with the Franchise Tax Board, and several other complicated and sensitive issues. Throughout the process, John was exceptionally responsive, thoughtful, and ethical. I would definitely recommend him. I wish that we had used him on the front end to write the trust - we probably could have avoided probate altogether. read more

I believe he's the best at what he does. I am a lawyer myself, but I have a different specialty, and I wouldn't go to anyone else. When I have a client who needs help in his particular area, I don't hesitate to send them to him, and every single person has been happy with the results as well as With his level of courtesy towards his clients. read more

I give John Maderious NO stars, because I had 2 meetings with him and he talks real slow saying the same thing at each meeting and asking the same questions. Both times he was LATE and confused. The first appointment he let someone else have my appointment, but apologized and PROMISED that wouldn't happen again, and HE WOULD FOR SURE be on time. Second appointment With me waiting 10 minutes I asked the receptionist to see what's up and I think she woke him up and he then came out of his office, room and appeared intoxicated, and confused and asked the same questions again. Now he has $1,000.00 of mine and I feel I was talking to someone after many drinks and a nap. I believe this strongly that he was not a sharp man in any way with me but he still took advantage of me, in my situation, just trying to get a FORMAL accounting which I have a legal right to. I received no help from John other then supposedly it's against the law for TRUSTEES to charge more then $125,00 and hour and the one I have is charging $175.00 and hour which I'm turning him into the bar assoc.tomorrow. John's brain scares me and I recommend, STAY AWAY. read more

He is the most money leaching rip off attorney "with the legal knowledge of how to over pad a bill" that I have ever met. I was extremely frustrated with him 10 years ago when I hired him to represent my children's trust. The opposing party and I settled outside of the court when John's bill was around 25K. We instructed him to do "very little" afterwards and do the minimal to keep the bill down as we had settled and to finish closing the case. His bill still climbed up to 40K before it was over....not to mention the other 10K he was paid in the beginning. He also threatened to keep me in court forever if I didn't pay him his remaining 15K. I paid him his remaining 15K. To make things worse....now that he was paid off nine years ago and has been out of my hair......I just found out he never removed the lien on my mother-in-laws property he had me sign as collateral to make sure he got paid back then. He was paid everything in full in 2007. The title company is now asking him to sign a reconveyance (to take his IOU off the property) and he is refusing to cooperate. He forgot to do his job and remove it when he got paid nine years ago.....and now he is twisting this around as an opportunity to hold up our escrow and extort another 32K out of me. I am LIVID. He first claimed he has nothing to do with the property and he is not signing anything. Then when we sent him the copy of the partial deed of reconveyance that he had me sign (to jog is memory) ....then he starts salivating as a way to extort money. He asked me to send him proof he was paid. I sent him EVERYTHING. I sent him a copy of our letters back and forth in 2007 stating he will consider his payment in full if I gave him the remaining 15K on Oct 9, 2007. I sent him our letters, a copy of the cashier's check for the 15K he received dated on that day, further proof of what he agreed to accomplish if he got paid, etc. etc. he is now putting his demand in for $32,000 to the title company which is almost the total all over again. When confronted as to "Why"?? his remark is that my proof didn't convince him. When you have a letter from him stating he will accept the 15K to be the final payment in full, then the copy of the cashier's check for it, then the proof he did the things he promised to do after he got paid which I sent the proof he did......that still wasn't enough. I'm livid. I guess I will have to report him to the State Bar Association. He forgot to do his job and remove his lien.......now he is turning it around and trying to say I owe him. The audacity. I'm upset that he can get away with messing up my escrow as he thinks he is above the law and what's right!!! D.H. in Sebastopol read more

John did a good job for me. He was thorough, professional and he gave me some very helpful tips.