Child Custody Lawyer in Tampa Testimonial

“Hi my name is Tara and I’m here to tell you about Gary Dolgin. I know him because he was my lawyer and he helped me when my kids were kidnapped and taken across state lines by their father. He helped me get my children back in three weeks time. He understands the value of keeping children safe.

My story started in 1998. It was the day after Thanksgiving and I was waiting for my daughters, who were 3 and 5 at the time, to be returned to me. They had spent Thanksgiving with their dad. We were separated at the time. I waited a really long time for them to come home, and they never came home.

There was a little bit more urgency in my situation because my husband had attempted suicide just a month before this and was “Baker Acted.” So there was a lot of concern on my part in his emotional and mental stability. He, at one time had threatened to kill both me, my daughter and himself. So it had a lot of cause for concern.

I called his parents’ house to see if they had heard from him. His parents lived in Louisiana and we were here in Tampa. His mom answered the phone and said “He’s here,” and handed him the phone.

He got on the phone and said “I’m filing for divorce in Louisiana and putting the girls in school here and there’s nothing you can do about it.” So I hung up the phone pretty much freaking out and not knowing what I was going to do next.

After a little while of an emotional break-down, I pulled myself together and got in my van and drove all the way to Baton Rouge.
I got to Baton Rouge the next morning at 7:30 and knocked on their door. My husband came to the door and said “What are you doing here?”

I said “I’m here to get my daughters,” and he said “That’s not happening.”

I didn’t know what to do after that, but I called the police. I called 911 and they said there was nothing they could do because we didn’t have any legal paper work in place. We had a friendly agreement sharing the girls one week on, one week off.

Because I didn’t have anything saying that he didn’t have custody, the police couldn’t do anything.

When I got back to Tampa I started calling attorneys, but everyone was so far out in their schedules that no one could talk to me that day. My priority, my goal was to have someone that would talk to me that day.

I got Gary’s number from one of the other law firms that couldn’t see me that day. They recommended him. I called and Gary picked up the phone. He understood my situation and the urgency of it and made me his top priority.

Within 3 days we had an emergency custody order. Then we had to get a law firm in Louisiana to do the same thing there, and that took a few weeks.

During that time I was talking to my daughters on the phone every night, not giving them a clue as to what we were doing because we did not want to give them a reason to flee.

Three weeks later Gary called me and told me “You need to go pick up your kids, the police have picked them up.” The police had picked them up and brought them to the police station for me. So I got in my car and drove back to Louisiana and got there that night.

I walked into the police station and saw my daughters. They yelled and screamed “Mommy!” and jumped up into my arms. It was a very happy moment that I remember to this day. After that, we arrived back to Tampa after driving all night.

My husband actually ended up committing suicide and did that on my birthday. He did it in Louisiana. I got a call from Gary that day telling me that my husband had committed suicide.

At that point, the girls lost their father and it was a difficult time for the girls to understand that whole thing.

But Gary was there for us, and he continued to be there for us for the past 18 years since the case happened.

He checked in with us over the years to see how my daughters were doing, if we need anything.

He just really is the type of person who understands the value of families and protecting children and prioritizing the safety of children. That is why I would highly recommend Gary.”