Shane C. Nielson - Walnut Creek, CA

I am not one to write poor reviews, to me it is a waste of time and I rely on others to relay critical information. However, I want others to carefully research who they are going to invest their money and time on. My wife and I were clueless and in a rush, and because of this we had such a traumatizing experience due to the negligence and lack of measures Mr. Nielson failed to take. I have been waiting 8 months to write this. Let me explain. My wife was looking to relocate out of CA with her 4yo son due to the increasing costs of living as I am sure you are all aware of. My wife has sole legal and physical custody, and the dad has a criminal background and does not support financially. She and I had significantly better opportunities for work in Las Vegas, and overall could provide a more comfortable and stable life for her son. We brought up our situation with Mr. Nielson in January/February of 2023, around the time of her lease renewal. He explained to us that my wife has every right (the presumptive right) to relocate with her son to NV, and gave her the green light. We packed her things, she quit her job, and we simply moved everything to my home in Las Vegas. He warned us of other party filing a motion and the unlikelihood of it getting approved. Few weeks later, it was approved. Police were calling my wife because the dad was attempting to call an Amber Alert, though she has full custody. Prior to this we got a brief email from Mr. Nielson stating she needed to move back, not a call, no reassurance or explanation of the current situation. Her son had to move back to CA with her sister, my wife kept her new job here in Vegas because we assumed that the move needed a formal court hearing prior to being granted. The hearing was 6 weeks away, the longest 6 weeks for my wife having to be away from her son. The court date arrives. Mr. Nielson assures us that he will have us three (her son, her, and i) on our flight back home to Vegas on that day. After the hearing the other party ends up with more rights (from supervised to unsupervised visitations) and we are left with another court date 2 months out and loads of uncertainty. We immediately felt like we lost, including Mr. Nielson. We were left devastated, and all he could say was "There is nothing we can do. The judge is not following the law". My wife had to quit her new job and move back to CA with her sister. Almost 2 months total of lost income because proper steps were not taken. And approximately 2 months of me paying for Nielson's services totaling up to approximately $7000. Here is where we eventually terminated our services with Mr. Nielson. Now I am no attorney, but after months of research on move-away cases I had to do on my own I did learn these things. For move-away cases there are many things to consider and steps to take. To start you have Lamusga Factors, but MOST IMPORTANTLY you have to file a move-away order. This is the crucial and most detrimental step Mr. Nielson failed to address. No matter the situation, if the other party is in prison for example, a Move-Away Order must always be filed prior to relocating. Mr. Nielson failed to mention this in the beginning, failed to file one, and again failed to mention it after our first court hearing. "There is nothing we can do, she is not following the law." Again I am no legal expert, however this is why I and a lot of you will come to a professional. After terminating our services, we ultimately won the case (9/27/23) with another attorney and were able to relocate. It did not have to go this way had he initially taken the proper steps, had he not given the other party (without a lawyer) the legal advantage. Our new attorney essentially had to clean up after Nielson which took approx 5 months and more legal expenses. My wife did not have to move prematurely and be in/out of work for 2mo. I'm sorry to write this, but my wife suffered far too much due to his negligence.