Yelman & Associates

Brian Kelley

Twice within the last decade, Sara Neumann of Yelman and Associates in San Diego has been a valuable ally in the courtroom. My divorce was unusual in that my ex-wife and I shared a residence in separate living quarters before I filed for divorce. Sara's understanding of California law and her exceptional courtroom skills resulted in the court setting the separation year as the time we started living in separate rooms instead of they year I filed for divorce. That determination was critical and resulted in a much more favorable financial settlement for me. Just recently I reached retirement age. I was concerned that I would have to delay my retirement due to the monthly spousal support I was paying. I called Sara and asked if there was any way the monthly support could be reduced. Once again her grasp of California law was evident as she walked me through the process of how spousal support at the time of retirement worked, and how she would be able to petition the court to eliminate my monthly support payment. As expected, my ex-wife brought in her own attorney to fight my petition. Sara fought hard for me during the discovery phase of the case in limiting what was appropriate to turnover and what was off limits. When we went to court my ex-wife and opposing counsel tried to re-litigate the original divorce case, but Sara was relentless in reining them in and sticking to the facts of the original settlement and California law. At the end of the day Sara was able to get my monthly spousal support completely eliminated. Sara Neumann is an amazing lawyer. If you are in need of a family attorney, I highly recommend you give her a call.

Sarah Iliev

I’m so happy that I chose Yelman & Associates to represent me in my divorce case. My case was fairly simple, but it was my first divorce and my husband had controlled all the finances during our marriage, so being on my own for the first time in 18 years was a very scary and confusing time for me. Heidie and her team assisted me every step of the way, and took time to explain everything to me in a way I could understand. Heidie is very efficient, detailed, and pro-active. She responded immediately to any questions I had. She’s also a pitbull when it comes to arguing a case, and helped me negotiate a settlement with my reluctant ex-husband that I was ultimately very happy with. I also appreciated that she seemed to respect the fact that her time was billable, and didn’t waste my time or money with extra un-necessary work. Yelman & Associates isn’t the cheapest firm in town, but I firmly believe that you get what you pay for, and their professionalism and quality of service is outstanding.

Suzy Furlong

I highly recommend Tara Yelman and Yelman & Associates in Family law and related cases. Tara represented me for over 8 years (as I had a very litigious former spouse). Her knowledge of family law, understanding what the Judges want to hear, (we had 3 different judges in the 8 years of litigation) and her organizational skills, resulted in me receiving full custody of my child. Yelman & Associates (and Tara) were always responsive and fought for what was in both my daughter's and my best interest, but she also gave straightforward advice on what to request from a court and how to act in order to maximize the possible results. In addition to her professionalism, she has always been very fair and cognizant of the ongoing costs. In addition, her staff is knowledgeable and kind, which is important when you are dealing with highly emotional circumstances. In my opinion - there is no better firm to represent.

Craig Macdonald

I highly recommend Tara Yelman and her team. I used Yelman & Associates in my divorce. She was ethical, provided outstanding advice through this trying time, and I found her billing to be transparent and highly efficient. I found her to always be better prepared than her opposing counsel. She was always the one to recommend creative ways to resolve negotiation sticking points. And her knowledge of the law and judicial procedure in court was outstanding -- helping to shorten the process and work with me and my ex to find solutions that worked for both of us. Even after the proceedings, she has provided ongoing guidance for how to manage the issues that pop up post divorce -- which has been crucial in helping my family move on from the process. Again, I highly recommend.