Have you answered this ad?

Have you talked this person?

Have you given her any personal information or information about your case?

Congratulations you just sunk your own case. Need proof, read the comments that have come to us about her actions at the end.

Mellissa Collene is a scam artist, not a family advocate as she claims. We have been digging into her activities and had people call her and report back. While what she tells you may sound like a great deal for you there are serious ethical violations that for the attorneys that are, by her admission, giving her kickbacks for every client she finds for them.

We had a young man contact her and he was told that she would find him an attorney for his case that would provide services that she would monitor to assure that the attorney did not over charge him as a client. This is a violation of several sections of the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys.

We will start with the first violation of the rules and an extremely major issue. She admitted in that contact that she would communicate with the attorney directly about the case. This is a very serious violation of the attorney client privilege as no discussion can take place with a nonparty to a case.

RULE 1.6: CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION

(a) A lawyer shall not reveal information relating to the representation of a client, including information protected by the attorney-client privilege under applicable law, unless the client gives informed consent, the disclosure is impliedly authorized in order to carry out the representation, or the disclosure is permitted by division (b) or required by division (d) of this rule.

(b) A lawyer may reveal information relating to the representation of a client, including information protected by the attorney-client privilege under applicable law, to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes necessary for any of the following purposes:

(1) to prevent reasonably certain death or substantial bodily harm;

(2) to prevent the commission of a crime by the client or other person;

(3) to mitigate substantial injury to the financial interests or property of another that has resulted from the client’s commission of an illegal or fraudulent act, in furtherance of which the client has used the lawyer’s services;

(4) to secure legal advice about the lawyer’s compliance with these rules;

(5) to establish a claim or defense on behalf of the lawyer in a controversy between the lawyer and the client, to establish a defense to a criminal charge or civil claim against the lawyer based upon conduct in which the client was involved, or to respond to allegations in any proceeding, including any disciplinary matter, concerning the lawyer’s representation of the client;

(6) to comply with other law or a court order;

(7) to detect and resolve conflicts of interest arising from the lawyer’s change of employment or from changes in the composition or ownership of a firm, but only if the revealed information would not compromise the attorney-client privilege or otherwise prejudice the client.

(c) A lawyer shall make reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of or unauthorized access to information related to the representation of a client.

(d) A lawyer shall reveal information relating to the representation of a client, including information protected by the attorney-client privilege under applicable law, to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes necessary to comply with Rule 3.3 or 4.1.

This violation is severe and is at the least a suspension of the attorney, if not disbarment.

The second major issue is her admission that she was being paid by the attorney for getting someone to commit with a retainer.

From that conversation:

1. What services do you have and how can you help?

WE FIND Attorneys in your area who are willing to lower their retainer to $1000.00 and only $150.00 per hour for our clients.

2. How do you get paid?

I get paid out of the $1000.00. We also monitor your case to make sure that the attorney is doing their job. (Only way this could be done in the scenario presented was for her to talk directly with the attorney).

When you pay the retainer which you can do in two parts, the case will be filed. Nothing is filed until you pay the $1000.00 and the filing fees. Again the only way to get this information is direct contact and discussion with the attorney about the case.

Paying Others to Recommend a Lawyer

[5]Except as provided by these rules, lawyers are not permitted to give anything of value to another for recommending the lawyer’s services or channeling professional work in a manner that violates Rule 7.3. A communication contains a recommendation if it endorses or vouches for a lawyer’s credentials, abilities, competence, character, or other professional qualities. A reciprocal referral agreement between lawyers, or between a lawyer and a nonlawyer, is prohibited.

We have admitting that she is being paid by attorneys this is a serious issue as the Rules of Profession Conduct do not allow this.

There is second number that Melissa often posts in these ads and that is a 614 number. That number is a Private investigation firm calls Sparks Investigations. There is second person that claims to be an Ohio advocate that also posts ads like this by the name of Shelby Holcomb. Private investigative firms that have the information such as what you have provided to Collene or Holcomb as not bound by law from selling or providing you information to other people and that could be your ex or opponent in your case. Ask yourself a simple question, while you may be able to gain information from using one with the way that these two play with other violations of law, who is to say that they will not sell you information to the highest bidder? Do you want to take that chance when your child could be at risk?

This is the recording of her message threatening me. A couple things I am going to address, first she claims that I threatened her life which is 100% untrue. While she talks this game about getting a restraining order she has nothing under the law she can do when someone that is telling the truth, it falls fall outside the definitions of any of the legal claims she is making. It is becoming obvious that she is either delusional or that I have hit the nail on the head on with the scam she is and has been running. Her claims of being harassed are false and if there is anyone that has been harassed it has been Ohio Family Rights and myself.

So now that the truth is out about her I welcome any shot she thinks she can take at me for telling the truth. It won’t get her far but her problems are not done as this matter is being turned over to the Supreme Court Disciplinary Council. They will compel her to name every attorney she has gotten fees from and those attorneys will receive the appropriate punishment.

While many complain about the problem in family court, these are the actions and people that make it difficult for all. If you have been approached or have provided information to either of these two we need you to help put a stop to it by contacting us.

Comments that have come to us unsolicited and are outside of the investigative call we made but they do confirm that there is some very shady dealing and activity.

I have spoken to her and a few others involved with her, and something just felt off about the whole situation. I've heard a couple of them say they have paid her for services in return they have waited months and months with no filings or have been charged $700 just for her to write a motion. In my case alone she has stated things about the rules of the court I have verified to be untrue and told me to take 3 steps back from the progress I have already made

Also, I forgot to mention. She then asked if I wanted to work for her as her advocate. Stating she has involvement with s S.C.O. R.E. and they were going to be making contracts for us all to sign. That she wouldn't be my boss but and I would be paid $300 from the initial retainer fee of$ 1000. She would bill me 15% of what I made and then at the end of the year I would be 1099'd by both her and the attorney. I think of myself as a smart woman and began asking questions as to why would I get a 1099 from her if I'm paying her...I began to mention how I saw it incredibly wrong she charged woman the fees she has for the work she hasn't done and I was blocked from further communications.

The woman she charged is named Patsy. I'll have her send you an email. The other woman and other people I've spoken with have all blocked me and Patsy saying that we are just starting drama and they believe it's all about helping the families. I didn't see any help what so ever. Melissa was using drugs and trying to pass them along to people who still have open cases. One lady who paid her $3200 had her case compromised by a guy who said he was Melissa's private investigator. The investigator then turned around an told the other party of the girls case their plan. Melissa charged her $500 for that.

From a Father: In a nutshell, she has convinced my 10-year-old son that she works for the judge that resides over the motion I filed in May. She is telling him that I only want to get his mom in trouble because I don't want to pay child support, this is of coarse not true, I've paid for her housing, vehicle, birthdays/holidays, utilities and given her several hundred dollars a month on to of it for most of my son's life. She also is telling him that I'm going to go to jail for lying, that I basically want to control his mom is very strange ways and so on.... These are not things that anyone should tell a child. It has seriously strained my son's and I's relationship, but I'm not going to let it damage it beyond repair. Probably the most appalling thing is how she choses to tell him. He finally broke down the other night and explained to me that when Melissa tells him things, that are secrets, she makes mom go sit in her parked car and takes me away. He said that he has asked his mom to help him because he is afraid of Melissa. However, his mom, *******, only feeds the manipulation by telling him that she has to do what Melissa says or she'll get in trouble by the judge. ******** is a skilled manipulator and doesn't say things like this directly, but she will say things like, I am afraid not to listen to Melissa because of.... well, we shouldn't talk about court! I'm sure you get the picture. My family members will ask me how I know he's telling the truth and it's difficult to answer that question. It's not what he's doing that makes me believe him, it's what he's stopped doing and explanation for it. Also, I was very confused when he wouldn't discuss Melissa with me, him and I have always been very close and open with each other. When I told him I was confused about this, he then proceeded to fill in the blanks for me without me having to say a word. Come to find out, I was making him very anxious when I would bring up Melissa because he thought we were talking about court and that I'd get in trouble, because this is what Melissa had told him. Please remember, my son didn't know Melissa until this started and our relationship was/is great, we had zero issues. Then a stranger starts telling him horrible things about his dad and he can't ask me about them because I would then get in trouble by the judge. I realize that state legal officials will not be interested in any of this, as it has nothing to do with scamming people for money. But it matters a great deal to me. I've been a father for over 19 years. I have 4 other children with my ex-wife and we've never experienced any of these issues. This is new to me. And to be honest, it feels like someone is tearing the life out of me ever minute of every day. I'm faced with inevitability that the hard I fight to advocate for my son, the harder his life will become, via ****** and Melissa. I know this from experience.

There will be more as it comes in but you best bet is to file a complaint with the Oshio Supreme Court Disciplinary Council if she has interferred in your case or asked money from you for her "services". Ohio Disciplinary Council