Owens Schine & Nicola

As a former client of Mr. Nicola, my partner asked that he represent her for an upcoming closing on an investment property that she had just purchased Unfortunately, her experience with him & his paralegal, was frustrating, disappointing, & wholly disturbing The vast majority of emails & requests for help, guidance, were ignored & went without answers, guidance or help That lack of responsiveness she/we found not only disturbing, but unprofessional And when she did get a reply, on several occasions she got a response, either from his paralegal Agnes, or from Robert ( Nicola), it was all too often rude & dismissive, essentially saying, in effect, it was up to her to handle, leaving her with a clearly though not directly stated message of… not my problem, you figure it out, & don’t bother me. And on one such occasion, Mr Nicola lashed out at her broker, who worked tirelessly on our behalf, telling her, when she questioned if &/or how he would handle or suggest the handling of a situation, that…. “You are being paid a 5% commission ( which she promptly replied to saying she was not getting 5%), & therefore, she should be doing “”it” ( to earn her commission) To repeat Unethica?, rude, unnecessary, unprofessional Another example of the arrogance of rudeness demonstrated by Mr Nicola For a variety of reasons, the circumstances ( before clising) presented many challenges & raised many questions To that end, on one occasion when we were granted an opportunity to speak with Mr Nicola, a number of steps were outlined as to how to proceed After repeated questions we raised to clarify our understanding, Mr Nicola said: “I don’t understand what else I can tell you or why you don’t understand. I have spent 32 minutes of my time” In addition, at the outset of our agreement to work together, she was sent a list of all items that would have to be paid by closing This included his written & our mutually agreed upon attorneys fees of $1500 Within the past week, prior to closing, she was sent a revised list of closing fees, which had risen to $3500 There were no discussions or documents listing any additional services &/or fee structure for any such services Nor, of course did she sign or verbally agree to anything over & above the initially agreed upon fee for services for $1500 When she reached out in an email stating that, & further stating that she felt the fees were exorbitant & unfair, given what she explained as referenced above, that email was as well unanswered & therefore ignored On the day before closing, we sent an email requesting an itemized listing of fees & services to get an explanation of how the fee ( which we paid at closing) went from $1500 to $3500 That email, like so many before, was ignored Thankfully the closing was today & was successfully completed For that she is & we are a thankful However, it should not have been so distasteful And so, obviously, she/we am so disappointed & feeling taken advantage of, & dismissed Lastly she hired a professional as her advocate, “ partner” & resource Sadly, instead, see was left feeling alone & had to “figure it out on her own” Clearly, however competent, experienced & knowledgeable Mr Nicola may be, his lack of responsiveness, courtesy, & respect to his (paying) client, all stated above, leads her to state regret for having hired & paid, even overpaid him and I will NEVER again entertain consideration of working with him again To that end, we would also WARN anyone against using him!!!

Due to overwhelming grief and a general lack of understanding (or patience) of the bureaucratic process of Probate, I could not have gotten through without the expertise of Owens, Schine & Nicola, specifically Ryan Kelly. I took the process as far as I could. I had tried to get help from the IRS and from my insurance company. Neither could assist me adequately in filling out all the necessary forms. I turned everything over to Mr. Kelly (the forms & documents) and let go of everything else (frustration & worry).

My mother worked contracted with Owen, Schine & Nicola when she was alive and she loved working with them. They were so patient with her and so kind. She and I felt we got excellent advice. Even after my mother passed away several years ago they were willing to help me. Specifically Ryan Kelly took the extra time help so I can wrap up the estate on my own. The responsiveness, professionalism and kindness meant a lot to me. This is a great firm.

Ryan Kelly made my job as an executrix as easy as possible. His patience with my questions and expertise were very much appreciated. He always made me feel like I had his undivided attention and sympathy through the entire process which was all done long distance.

As a realtor, I’ve had the privilege of working with Attorney Ryan P Kelly of Owens, Schine & Nicola, PC on numerous sales. He is knowledgeable, compassionate, thorough, and a true advocate for his clients. I look forward to helping many more clients with him in the future.