What is the penalty for a divorce attorney who lies to the court?

Question:divorce lawyer Erin Clark

My wife’s divorce lawyer is deliberately telling lies to the divorce court. I have asked for an evidentiary hearing, presented it to the Court of Appeals, and submitted a grievance to the state bar association.

What is the usual penalty for an attorney who lies to the court? Can I have her recused from representing my wife? Can she be disbarred? Can I sue her?

Answer:

I am not licensed in your state (Georgia); however, a Google search directed me to the State Bar of Georgia’s website, where I found the following information: “When the State Bar receives a call or a letter from a person who expresses a concern about the conduct of a Georgia attorney, the communication is directed to the Consumer Assistance Program.”

The Georgia State Bar’s Consumer Assistance Program (CAP) helps people with questions or problems with their Georgia lawyer. Following a receipt of a proper grievance, the Georgia Office of the General Counsel will investigate the allegations.

It is clear in the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct that a lawyer shall not knowingly make a false statement of material fact or law to a tribunal. While the maximum penalty for a violation of the aforementioned rule is disbarment, the State Bar may impose other penalties, such as sanctions, private reprimand, public reprimand, or a temporary suspension from the practice of law.

To set up an appointment with a Cordell & Cordell divorce lawyer, including Erin E. Clark, an Associate Attorney in the Fort Worth, Texas office, please contact Cordell & Cordell.

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5 comments on “What is the penalty for a divorce attorney who lies to the court?

    My wife’s attorney called my former employer and said she was representing me and requested my work history. Can she do this? This is in South Carolina for a custody hearing.

    Petitioner
    Don’t feel bad. I have lost everything I worked for during my life to a flawed system which requires no accountability for judges or attorneys. My ex-wife’s attorneys have lied in multiple court hearings. When the Judge was confronted with the lies, all quoted as per the official court recording, he took no action. In a subsequent hearings those attorneys actually made an issue of claiming that they had done nothing wrong, so any possibility that their lies were inadvertent cannot be asserted. The evidence was indisputable and documented with exact quotes. The specific lie they told was material to the property settlement–it was actually a lie about the very wording of the Divorce Decree, and I was deprived of millions in premarital property. I have lodged six well-founded Bar complaints and the Utah Bar has taken no disciplinary action. Because the Judge in the case had ignored Utah laws in reaching his decision–specifically the Utah stature that there can be no contempt of court if there is no court order in effect, had scheduled ex-parte hearings without proper notice to me or my attorney–who was on a three-week vacation to Mexico, and because he had failed to act after being informed my ex-wife’s attorneys had lied to the Court, I spoke to the Utah Judicial Conduct Commission. One of their attorneys told me that, though there is a Judicial Misconduct Complaint process, the Commission essentially had no power to discipline a Judge who fails to abide by the Utah Judicial Conduct Code. I am shaking my head! The Utah Bar is a gentlemen’s club that makes sure attorneys are not accountable for their moral behavior in Court, and the Judicial Conduct Commission is without any substance. I can’t believe its spokesman admitted it cannot enforce the State Judicial Code. Every American should be concerned that attorneys and judges are freed from accountability. Officers of the Court should be torch carriers for fairness, equity, and truth. It’s time we passed laws that made attorneys and abide by their licensing oaths, and make it a criminal offense to lie to the Court or to ignore State and Federal law. Everyone else is subject to perjury when speaking to the Judge. How come attorneys are exempt. I’m told it’s because the attorneys are not under oath. It seems to me they are under oath as officers of the court. They swore to be honest and to uphold the laws of our State. There is no one who can hold their feet to the coals.

    Attorney’s get away with Lying
    I have had the same problem. I never go into court without a court reporter. Yet still, where the lie was so blatant and proveable with the transcript and evidence to refute her statement the Florida Bar would do nothing. It is absolutly a pervresion of law beyond imagination. In Florida I would imagine the bar disiplines less than 1% of all complaints. Its hard to imagine Fathers are so powerless and so completely walked all over by the Divorce Industry.

    Good Luck With That
    Good luck with that.
    The court at most might reprimand her lawyer but she is just going to say she didn’t knowingly lie and the court is not going to do anything to her. My ex-wife’s lawyer lied constantly and got away with it even though all of the lies were challenged and shown to be untrue the judge still based her decision on what her lawyer said. A lot of “lawyering” is nothing more than good acting and presentation with a straight face while lying. The judge is not going to look to validate anything that is said. They will either believe it or not and that is largely based on the presentation by the lawyers.
    The divorce industrial complex is a system that is stacked heavily against the father in this country. It is a golden goose for the lawyers and judges that work in it and they are not about to slay that goose.
    Please explain how you can go from seeing and being responsible for your children for 24-7-365 and then being reduced to less than 10 days a month,(standard visitation), and that is considered OK in this country. I’m not saying don’t fight for your right’s and I’m sure your lawyer wants to represent you in getting the other lawyer for lying, (more fees), but if it’s not too late or impossible, hash out as many of the details with your soon to be ex-wife with a mediator and go to the lawyers to make sure you didn’t miss anything and the legalese. You will save yourselves a lot of time and money in the long run.
    Until it is automatic that both parents get joint legal and physical custody in this country men will be playing on an uneven field and fighting an uphill battle.
    For a good perspective on just what you are dealing with read Alec Baldwin’s book: A Promise To Ourselves. You can get it at discount stores like Big Lots or on Amazon.com for about $5.

    Lying in Court
    There are absolutely no consequences to an attorney lying in court. They lie all the time constantly as do their clients. The problem with attempting to take them to grievance is that little word “knowingly”. How are you ever going to prove whether the attorney lied knowingly or not. They will say they got the information from their client or they interpreted the information that way. Also, even with the most clear cut evidence grievance committees for attorneys disregard complaints from consumers all the time.

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