Nina H Martel SC

I am not one to leave reviews, this is my first. Since this has completely changed mine and my child's life and created a painful burden a mother should never have to endure, I am sharing my review in hopes that it helps someone in the future. My voice was not heard in court but hopefully someone will hear me and justice will prevail. I will never stop fighting for my child. Nina has served as my young child's GAL for almost 3 years and would leave a 0 star if I could. Her interests and "recommendations" were NOT in the best of my child, but laid elsewhere. I shared a lot of sensitive information with her during the custody battle about my child and her father, but none of that seemed to matter when it came to her shockingly final recommendation in the courts when she appointed my child's father as primary guardian. It did not matter to her that I was mentally, emotionally and verbally abused for 13 years by a narcissist and have suffered from trauma and PTSD per my therapist and doctor since. It did not matter that my child's father threatened to kill me, threatened grotesque physical harm to me, threaten to set fire to the inside of my home, constantly harass, stalk and control me through my child. It did not matter that he tried to move into the same apartment complex as me and then moved into the one right next door. It did not matter that her father has a previous case of physical assault on his record. It did not matter that I felt scared, unsafe, unhappy and unhealthy near him. She knew from the start of this case that I would be moving an hour away, to an area that would give me better job opportunities that balance work and family life. That gave us more affordable housing opportunities. That gave my child more educational opportunities. That gave my child more diversity, more programs to be involved in and more extra curricular activities to be involved in. An area that was safe and offered more life convenience. I moved to an area that would give me the opportunity to rid the entity that caused so much harm and pain and to show my child what a loving home with 2 happy and healthy parents really was. She gets to experience that loving family and happy home with her mom and step-dad 6 days a month and cries every time she has to leave because she doesn't want to. What did matter to Nina and claimed so in the court? That my 5 year old child had "established" friends in the community. That it wouldn't be fair for her father to travel to see her in any school or extra curricular events, but for some reason would be fair and reasonable if the mother had to. That I prove that I can't communicate with her father because I did not share my personal dinner recipes with him, but did share what my child likes to eat. The hundreds of pages of evidence I had against him did not matter and not ONE piece of evidence against me. The simple fact that he "Would like to think he could do the parenting that the child's mother had been doing" was enough for her. She told me that I should have been selfless and stayed in the community by her father and to get over my "so called PTSD" because it's "normal" for divorced parents to live next to their ex. I haven't met one divorced couple that would agree to that and or live that way. I'm not sure how someone can raise a happy and healthy child while the parent is living in constant fear and constant unknowing and unhappiness. To this day, I am still battling in the court because of her father making up his own rules, not following the court order and constantly controlling and abusing me through my child. This is and always has been a game to him, but this is MY child and I will not stop fighting. To this day, my child is not in ANY sort of program or activity outside of school and is not where she should be with her classes and her age. Yet, here we are. She could have so much more but that life is being kept from her and at what cost?

Nina has been the GAL in a highly contentious case involving my young children for 3 years now and I feel confident giving her this 1 star rating.

I've been trying to call but haven't been able to get a hold of anybody. I don't know if she retired or relocated. The last thing I seen online was she was supposedly in Australia

Nina is a very kind down to earth woman. She was a pleasure to work with and talk to.