Wilkinson & Finkbeiner

My interactions with Scott (and his firm) have all been overwhelmingly positive. They use their knowledge of California code and their understanding of judicial precedent to get me their clients the best possible results. They are passionate advocates that I would (and do) recommend to anyone.

Scott and Kyle are intelligent, professional advocates, and successful trial attorneys. Their staff is friendly and responsive. They have the resources to handle cases of any size. Both Scott and Kyle are family men, and strait shooters you should expect nothing less than courteous and impassioned advocacy. Highly recommended!

I hired scott finkbeiner for three years for my divorce and financial settlement. scott did a fairly good job but was the only cause for me to lose $ 25,000 in reimbursement of after-​school and medical expenses. scott never told me that these claims needed to be filed within 30 days of invoicing. her said multiple times that they could be dealt with later. what was most egregious was that he proposed that we file to try to obtain reimbursement when he must have known that the claim would fail in court. i paid his firm about $ 5,000 to file this claim (which failed)! He attempted to claim attorney’s fees and costs (my ex committed fraud and broke orders at will) but even then he provided no itemization of the $ 40k or so i had paid his firm. needless to say i was not awarded fees and costs. incredibly disappointing which turned a fairly good experience into a horrible one where his incompetence cost me about $ 30,000.

I worked with Mr. Finkbeiner for some minor issues mostly requiring some advice. Very happy with the service and knowledge.

Matthew Mesnik is a very nice guy with a great sense of humor, but not very strong in the courtroom. I get the feeling he really doesn’t want to make waves, just get his fees and get out. If you are disabled and need someone to really advocate for you, this would NOT be the law firm that you should turn to. Find a lawyer that is familiar with disabled clients and the special needs that go along with that. My ex’s lawyers walked all over him during the custody hearings. Like I said originally, he’s a very nice guy though. He did work with me on the fees and allowed me to make payments since I’m on a fixed income and that was greatly appreciated.

Amazing experience… worked with Kyle and couldn’t be happier with the service. I can’t thank him enough.

MONEY HUNGRY! I hired David to handle my divorce. I specifically asked him if he was too busy, because I was somewhat in a hurry to get this over with. David assured me he had time to work on my case, so I gave him a 3k retainer, and from that point on I didn’t hear from him or his staff for over a month. At that point I wrote him an e-​mail, which he charged me $ 35 to read it, and he replied with like 5 sentences saying he was busy, and charged me another $ 35. I emailed him back, got charged another $ 35 and told him that I wasn’t happy with the lack of communication and the fact that he was «too busy» to work on my case. Before I gave him the retainer he wasn’t busy, but the second he got that secured he just became too busy? Yeah, ok David! In his reply (another $ 35) he pretty much told me if I wasn’t happy I could go look for someone else to help me, and told me he didn’t like my tone… Well, I don’t like having my money taken away by someone that is too busy to work on my case, and charges me $ 35 every time we need to communicate!
It took him over a year to finish a simple divorce, no properties, no kids, nothing, just plain and simple! Once it was done I paid him off and asked for a receipt! They didn’t want to give me a receipt, or statement saying that I had payed them off. I had to e-​mail them, at least ten times over a month to be able to get it from them.

Matt Mesnik from Wilkinson & Finkbeiner is your guy. I retained Matt to help negotiate some pretty difficult post-​divorce problems with a particularly nasty and scornful ex-​wife. These issues ran the gamut to include child custody, visitation rights, child and spousal support and hefty financial reimbursements.
From the beginning, Matt always had an excellent handle on the situation and quickly came up with strategies to best maneuver through the legal maze (unlike my previous lawyer). It’s easy to get caught up in the minutiae of nastiness in such emotional matters, but Matt always kept his eye on the ball and focused on the most important issues that would help achieve the ultimate goals. To this end, I can say that sometimes we lost some battles, but ultimately we won the war (for lack of a better term). I retained full custody of my son, significantly lowered my support payments and received some of the financial reimbursements. Most importantly, the ex-wife’s mission to bring me down was stopped in its tracks (for the time being) and knows that the next time she tries to mess with us, she’s gonna have a battle on her hands with little likelihood of winning and much likelihood of paying her kooky lawyer some heavy duty legal fees.
Matt always advocated for me in an assertive, effective, cost-​efficient and ethical manner. Plus he’s got a sense of humor! Lastly, I found that Matt has earned the high regard of his peers and the judges that brings a certain clout to the courtroom.

I appreciate and trust the advise of Kyle Siems. He shares the best, likely and worst case of taking action and compares them to the likely costs. The logical analysis helps since my views could be based on emotions.
I would recommend getting a pre-​nup for all people considering signing a marriage contract. If you don’t have one, Kyle at WF is excellent too.

A friend of mine from work recommended David’s office as she had a history of working with a very difficult co-​parent and expressed that David understood these situations very well and knew how to handle it… I did realize quickly after meeting David that he did really get it. I worked with David Wilkinson first and then he appointed Kyle Seims at the same office to work on my case while he was out of town for other business… Both very knowledgeable and very easy to talk to.
My case was for a move away with my child (I share custody)…they couldn’t have handled it better. Kyle did a very good job communicating with the opposing party and with helping me understand certain aspects of the situation and how to best introduce a new custody arrangement which would work for both of us as parents and our child.
They were professional, patient, ethical and efficient with everything on top of just doing an amazing job with the case itself. My child is the most important person in the universe to me and of course my child’s wellbeing is so important to me. Myself and my child’s other parent unfortunately have a history of not working well at all together and in fact I had been trying for a few years to try to remedy this situation… so I was scared to death to try for the move away but I needed to do it due to unavoidable circumstances. I knew what I wanted to ask for but wasn’t sure of the likeliness of it working… Kyle helped me put together a reasonable and workable agreement for all of us that is very much near what I had asked for initially and our agreement was settled on without a trial which I had been anticipating and dreading. I am very very happy with that. He was great with dealing with the other party involved. He kept me very informed with everything along the away as it happened as well.
I just truly could not have asked for a better outcome. I would totally recommend their office and would absolutely use them again if I needed a family law attorney.

Kyle Siems did an amazing job. I appreciate all of his expert advice and guidance during the legal process, it couldn’t have gone any more smoothly and seamlessly than it did. He managed the entire process expertly and the outcome was the absolute best outcome possible. I am truly grateful for everything Kyle Siems did and will recommend him and the entire team at Wilkinson & Finkbeiner to anyone I know who is seeking an exceptional attorney and an outstanding law firm, which they are indeed.

I was going through a divorce and needed some help. David Wilkinson explained every step in the process very clearly and offered his advice along the way (without his help I would have been lost). When we initially sat down and talked about my case we developed a plan. That plan was executed perfectly and I could not be happier with the outcome. Big «Thank You» to David and his team!

I came here to seek help in getting legal guardianship for my 10 year old nephew. I met up with Scott at his office and every question he asked was clear, precise, and to the point. I never had to repeat myself because he was listening attentively.
The paralegal he has, Serena, kept on top of everything! When I wanted something from her or the courts she worked hard until she got the results I wanted. I was NEVER told to call back at a later time. Instead she contacted me with her follow ups in a very timely matter!
Scott’s performance in the courtroom was phenomenal! On the second court date I cannot believe how he turned the tables on my pest of a brother. The judge was ready to extend the decision to another date until Scott interjected quickly and pointed out to the judge how my brother contradicted himself. It went all down hill for my brother after that, and then judge awarded my guardianship!
If Scott wanted to milk me of my money he would have let the judge extend the courts decision to another date, but he didn’t. He put an end to the matter when the opportunity presented itself.
Thank you Scott and Serena!

My husband went for a consultation in regards to adjusting child support. Some information was good, but getting to that part took a while. When asked what the retainer would be he got told three different numbers, it started out at $ 4k, then $ 5k, then $ 6k. Let’s make a deal? Not so much…

Justine and Scott are true professionals, but more importantly, they care about YOU! I asked a lot of questions and always received prompt and courteous answers. The effort that was put into my case was obvious. Within three months, they were able to get my full back child support that was owed to me. I will highly recommend this firm to all of my family and friends!

Mr. Finkbeiner represented me in a custody dispute. I switched attorneys less than one month prior to the custody trial hearing.
Scott met all my expectations, and on most issues, exceeded them. He is an outstanding attorney. He told my story better than I imagined. He is an organized, creative, intelligent, confident person and these traits serve him and his clients extremely well in and out of court. It is clear he is in the right profession for his unique skill set.
Meetings were well organized, productive, and focused. He was always on time. I left with a clear understanding of next steps, and if anything was needed from me (and by when).
Correspondence with the court was professional, well executed, and produced with ample time for my review prior to being submitted. I never felt «pinched» for time.
Scott was able to absorb a massive amount of information in a very short amount of time. I was additionally impressed by the ways he and his team found to use the information I gave him that I thought somewhat unimportant. Scott clearly took the time to craft his arguments.
Scott is thoroughly competent about the law. No questions arose in my mind, ever, about his knowledge and expertise in Family Court Law. Communication with Scott was always timely and I could count on his response. I never had to wonder, «Did he get my email?»
The best part, I think, about having Scott as your lawyer, is that he shows genuine care and concern and that he has confidence (which I lacked at times), that he will be able to, frankly, stick it to the other party. And that feels good. He never promised results, but he has the eyes of a fighter.
The money I spent on him and his firm was worth every penny. I got what I paid for and more. A critical part of our team was Hannah, a person working to gain her license. She did more for my case than the paralegal of my former attorney, at half the rate. I owe our success to them both.
PS — He got me everything I wanted.

My fiancé went to matthew mesnik to read my prenup… he took off work went to his office only to be told matthew wanted 1000 dollars up front to read the prenup, the next day my fiancé went back with the money and a letter saying… i just want to read through this prenup and sign it… when can we do it? later that day my fiancé called to put matthew in touch with my lawyer so they could talk… matthew told my fiancé to come pick up his money… he decided not to take the case… another morning wasted just to get a prenup reviewed. matthew should have told my fiancé up front what his fee was… and he should have read through it on the next appt… very unprofessional and big waste of time

Matthew Mesnik was excellent. Professional, ethical, excellent and timely follow up, he went the extra mile for my legal purposes. The council was too the point, respectful, and I left feeling informed and aware of the process. He asked me the hard questions and walked me through the pro’s and cons of each decision. Thank you for your assistance and expertise. I would recommend them, call with any questions, you will know within the first 1 – 2 minutes you are speaking to the right firm.

Wilkinson and Finkbeiner is an amazing law firm that provides great service period. They are honest and ethical, while at the same time, focus hard on protecting the rights and goals of their clients. They do not overcharge for their services and are well worth every penny.
They, especially their associate attorney, Matt Mesnik, went through an extremely contentious issue with me and my ex with great care, professionalism, and expertise. Matt was very thorough, and fought hard but fairly for me. While the results were not 100% of what I was hoping for, I still managed to get 95% of what my family needed. That is a huge win in my book.
In summary, if you are in need of family law services, and you are in So Cal, you would be doing yourself a GREAT favor to check out Wilkinson and Finkbeiner.

Marlon M.
If you are a father battling over custody of your child, and you need a lawyer who will really fight for you, I recommend David Wilkinson (Wilkinson & Finkbeiner in San Diego, CA). I found David to be experienced and professional, yet supportive and easy to talk to. From the beginning David understood how important my case was to me, and he became 100% committed to getting me the positive outcome I needed. David is a good communicator who obviously knows the law and the court system, and he used these skills to guide me through this challenging time in my life. He and his staff were competent, attentive, and courteous. I would recommend Wilkinson & Finkbeiner for anyone looking for quality family law representation.