Sanderson & Sanford, LLC

My review concerns Melissa Sanford, who acted as guardian ad litem in our custody case and was profoundly disappointing, creating what I would describe as a "nightmare" GAL experience. I am the wife of Andrew Boone, the father who sought custody of his three girls. Throughout our two-year custody battle, Melissa changed her recommendation four times, demonstrating unreliability and inconsistency. Our case involved a mother who consistently obstructed visitation, disregarded court orders, and was flagged by various professionals, including DFACS, school staff, and therapists. The mother frequently involved law enforcement in parenting matters. However, the primary issue that led my husband to pursue custody was the children's poor attendance, which resulted in two of the three children failing their grades. Despite clear evidence of the mother's problematic behavior, Melissa's handling of the case was erratic and detrimental. My husband is far more involved than the average every-other-weekend dad. Melissa ignored the findings of professionals who highlighted the mother's role in parental alienation, dismissing their input even though she included it in her own report. At the end of summer, just two months later and the day before mediation, she altered her recommendation based solely on the children expressing a preference to live with their mother, a preference known from the outset. During a subsequent meeting, Melissa cited trivial issues such as eating leftover hamburgers and spiders in rooms to justify her decisions, showing a lack of understanding of the complexities of parental alienation. It's unfortunate because she seems to misunderstand the long-term harm of this type of abuse. Her subsequent temporary order proposal was impractical and biased against my husband, reflecting her inconsistent approach. Despite our attempts to address these issues and request her removal from the case, Melissa continued to flip-flop in her recommendations, eventually siding with the mother without valid justification and without providing one factual reason why my husband, an involved father, should not receive primary custody. Melissa, whom I consider extremely unprofessional, went as far as calling my husband insulting, vulgar names on the stand and making statements without evidence during the case. Fortunately, all four of her recommendations were disregarded and my husband was awarded primary custody of two of his daughters. In conclusion, Melissa's emotional involvement and tendency to favor the mother without evidence prolonged the proceedings unnecessarily. Her inability to conduct a reliable investigation and her favoritism towards baseless claims significantly undermined her role as a guardian ad litem. I sincerely hope Melissa does not handle another custody case, as her performance was consistently unreliable, unprofessional, and detrimental to the well-being of our family.

I have gone back and forth on writing this review because I still struggle to process my deeply frustrating experience with Melissa Sanford as the guardian ad litem in my case. I will try to keep this factual and remove my emotions from this review, though it is challenging. If you are here because Melissa was suggested or appointed as your guardian ad litem, please take this into serious consideration. In 2022, I petitioned for custody of my daughters because they were not attending school, resulting in two of them not being recommended to progress to the next grade. This fact is indisputable and clear-cut. Although there were other issues I was unhappy with as a father, their attendance was the primary reason I brought the case. At the first hearing, a guardian ad litem was appointed to investigate the facts. I was initially relieved, believing the situation was straightforward and that any fair assessment would support my concerns. I was wrong. The GAL moved painfully slowly, with time slipping by and no action taken. The reason given was that we were several cases down in the queue. Initially, I found this understandable, but as the months dragged on, it became infuriating. Parental alienation was documented by health professionals in this case but was ultimately disregarded by the GAL. She said she put no weight on it, stating, "I am not a child psychologist." This was astonishing to me because I would have expected more emphasis on the opinions of professionals who had spent significant time with my children. Instead, she chose to listen to the children, noting that they knew what to say and who she was. This was not surprising to me, given the circumstances, but deeply disappointing. There were four different custody recommendations from her, each differing despite minimal changes in material facts. Ultimately, none of these recommendations were considered after the final hearing, rendering the entire process seemingly pointless. Over two years, Melissa spent maybe three hours speaking with me, yet she formed negative opinions of me, leading to personal insults during her testimony at the final hearing. As a professional, I found this behavior shockingly immature, especially since I could not respond. I had heard she had been calling me names throughout the case, which was disheartening and unprofessional. I have not worked with a GAL before, but I cannot believe this is how it is supposed to go. Melissa was an extremely negative experience for me, and I truly hope to never interact with her again. Despite her, I was ultimately able to achieve my goal, as the facts in my case were indisputable. My experience with her was deeply disheartening, and I would urge anyone in a similar situation to be cautious.

I just completed a very nasty divorce and Catherine Sanderson was my 2nd attorney. I had to fire my first attorney because he was not protecting and defending the needs of my family. I was referred to Catherine by several people. She recognized the needs of my family and went to court fully prepared to prove and defend those needs. She was always professional, very understanding and supportive! She is a very tough and confident attorney who is not easily intimidated in court but is also very compassionate with her clients. I would recommend her to anyone and plan on using her again if needed.

After years of contemplating divorce and having Catherine's number on hand, i finally had the guts to go forward, but first spoke to an older Newnan attorney. I felt like I had no hope for independence or what I needed for my children, including my son with disabilities. I immediately made an appointment with Catherine Sanderson, who quickly took action to empower me and was a constant advocate. She is great at calming a situation and promoting the bigger, fair and legal picture. My case took a year and a half because of the contemptuous nature of my ex, but after many court dates I found Catherine's calm consistency paid off. She fought hard for what was right and she did her homework, preparing thoroughly for each hearing. She always stated the facts as concisely as possible, while making her case for the legal and ethical choice, representing what my children needed, with great results. When you're in a divorce you need a strong, experienced, and smart advocate. You need representation you can trust. That is what you'll have with Catherine Sanderson.

Catherine is an amazing attorney, she will fight hard for you and she is also an absolutely amazing human being. Melissa is also a great attorney, she is a beast in the courtroom (I say that in the most positive way) she is super smart, knows the law very well and will defend/argue for you.