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3/13/24 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
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I went before this judge with my spouse. We both agreed 100% about propert, childrens custody being split, financial obligations, debt and everything else. It took 2 years of figuring it out. She was so rude because we got along. She tried to pin us against eachother and denied our divorce. We both said screw it after spending a lot of money to get attorneys to write up and file. We are not divorced but just separated because this woman was so rude and didnt like what we both agreed too. My spouse was scared of her and she just frustrated me. She should not be a judge.
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11/15/23 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
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Extremely biased against men. Doesn't even follow the law. Not even capable of holding any office let alone being a judge. Doesn't know how to talk let alone being at a position which needs wisdom and far sightedness. She calculated child support at-least 1100 to 1200 more without following any law. Someone please tell her to stop ruining peoples lives who are already going through lot of divorce trauma.
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10/12/23 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
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I have been infront of this judge several times. When Im not infront of her and have another Judge i get my daughter back. I go infront of her and i get her taken from me. I was found not guilty for charges that should of never been brought on me. DCF closed there case saying not enough to prove. I went to therapy with my child. Once the therapist started talking to my child is when she found oit her father was trying to brainwash her that he was the right one and i was wrong. Once gragus got wind that her favorite parent wasnt so good. She ordered me to stop all therapy with my child. What judge doea that? Making it hard for me with my now teenage daughter who is bigger than me. Telling me that know one will believe me only her. Her father told her i was doing drugs. I was ordered a hair follicles to be tested for every drug. They took over 2 grams of hair outvof my head. I was found clean. My ex wants a settlement from a dog bite i had. I was never married to him. She said give it to
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3/17/23 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
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This was the worst experience of my life. My husband abused and raped me, admitted to raping me in text, and the GAL said he raped me. The judge belittled and embarrassed me repeatedly. Plus, now I have to give half my pension to my**** because "it's the law." If you are a DV victim, please know you're not alone when Gargas humiliates you. She even allowed my ex's attorney, Karla Mansur, to share a message on her phone that the attorney said was from me when indeed it was from my ex. When I tried to pull up documents on my phone, I was told it wasn't allowed.
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8/21/22 |
4 |
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I have been before Judge Gargas on a few occasions. I felt her to be fair and reasonable. I also did my homework prior to going before her. She is very direct and doesn’t tolerate anyone interrupting her or anyone else who is speaking (Common curtesy). She expects you to answer questions clearly and concisely and with an organized thought process. As long as you are respectful in her courtroom, there shouldn’t be an issue. She takes issue with anyone who comes in unprepared with or without an attorney. Honestly, I don’t blame her. It wastes everyone’s time. The last 2 times I was unrepresented for a contempt. It went fine. I was also organized and prepared and had done everything that was asked of me prior to court. I have seen her in action and the majority of people of the receiving end did not understand the assignment. You don’t tell a judge a previous judge ordered something and “can you look it’s in the record?” when she asks for it.
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2/9/21 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
She is so biased against men. She gave the wife everything she wanted and more, including finances and custody while the husband is left with barely any time and paying for it all. As a female attorney myself, I am appalled by how she speaks to those in front of her. And ever more appalled by her bias against men. She completely disregards the law and the child support guidelines. How is she allowed to continue on the bench? Because the parties are afraid to upset her, especially the men bc they are already at a disadvantage. She should not be allowed to rule as she chooses.
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10/29/20 |
1 |
1 |
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extremely biased against men like myself during divorce cases as she exacerbates an already stressful situation by putting a greater financial burden on the male. she put me negative monthly cash flow of over $5k/month (largely positive for ex) and negative checking account balance. she should be disbarred to prevent other men from experiences this horrific and completely unequal treatment.
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10/9/20 |
1 |
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She is so erratic, will not let you speak or present evidence. She is very bias and extremely disrespectful and that includes to attorneys who were her colleagues. she is not for the children's best interests and is causing long lasting emotional damage to them.It is beyond me why they are not held accountable for thier actions. they like to send us to classes that are expensive and completely useless when they should be the ones being educated on narcissist, abuse and parental alientation. Worrying about what the children want and are gping through instead of what parents throw against the wall to see if it sticks. Proabte court is a terrible joke
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SYSTEM: 2 negative duplicate or disallowed ratings automatically removed |
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1/5/20 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
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I have been in and out of the Middlesex Family Probate Court since 1992 with family and friends for support. I am very disturbed on how hostile Judge Gargas is towards all that goes before her, including the attorneys. She gets very confused, doesn't follow the laws, doesn't look at evidence, and is clearly not in the best interest of the children. I have witnessed countless attorneys walk away shaking their heads in disbelief. In order to have this judge ivestigated for her misconduct, please complain to the head of the Middlesex probate court along with putting a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Judicial Conduct (CJC), who has the obligation to do an investigation into Judge Gargas actions and for being biased. Judge Gargas needs to be removed from the bench. This can not be done without the proper departments being notified
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12/21/19 |
3 |
1 |
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I finally got the courage to file for divorce against my abusive husband this summer- it is scary enough to do this never mind being yelled at by the judge! I almost gave up and went back to him. She yelled at me because I didnt have money for a lawyer and was representing myself. I'm on expensive medicines and she is forcing me to hire a lawyer instead of taking my medicine!
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SYSTEM: 2 positive duplicate or disallowed ratings automatically removed |
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10/15/19 |
5 |
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I believe M.Gargas is fair enough she’s not against fathers at all I’m a father and my ex didn’t let me see my son however she put my ex in jail cuz she didn’t comply with the court order and she doesn’t like to be interrupted so be cautious on what you going to say and always have a lawyer with you.
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9/19/19 |
1 |
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I add my voice to the growing complaints against Judge Melanie Gargas. She is anti-father / anti-men -- if you are a father and this is your judge - get a new one no matter what your lawyer tells you. If you're the wife/mom, you will have easy peasy outcome - the house, the kids, million dollar life insurance, and any of the wife's bad behavior will be ignored as if it never happened. Gargas is a bully, disrepectful and 95% of this is directed at men. She's lazy (took 3 years to get case through her), she ignores father's motions and goes out of her way to rule and allow ex parte and improperly served and untimely motions by the wife/mother.
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7/24/19 |
1 |
1 |
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I wish you could give this judge 0 stars. She is extremely rude and hates being interrupted. She doesn't allow you to further explain anything before she instantly makes her assumptions about you. In terms of the custody case I was there for, i felt as if the outcome was not in the best interest of my child.
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6/13/19 |
2 |
1 |
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A Judge should be calm and listen to both sides' arguments carefully. I watched her very rude at court even without letting one side's attorney to finish the speech. Not a fit for bench work.
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5/22/19 |
1 |
1 |
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I was before her today . Hard time calling that woman a judge. No justice in her at all . Surprised shes on the bench . What a nightmare . She asked me to say my side but when I tried she became shrill and demeaning . Called me a liar. And then denied parts of my divorce decree. It was like dealing with a bully .
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3/10/19 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
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My husband was in kidney failure and on dialysis when he asked her for forgiveness in alimony owed after paying alimony for 20 years. He was 74. She refused, he had to scrounge to come up with what he owed, and he died a few weeks later. Thanks greedy ex-wife and Judge Gargis. No compassion whatsoever, she even said so to him.
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2/12/19 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
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This judge hates men! I had a male judge before she was assigned to my case, the male judge gave me custody of my son, this judge took over and turned the case upside down, she disrespected me, dealt with me as if I was a criminal, I see no reason for it other than being a man who was fighting for his son's rights! She allowed the opposing lawyer to have me sign a document without my attorney's presence, I told her I have not seen this document before and don't want to sign it, she asked me to be quiet because "You don't know what I am capable of doing to you", she held my trial while I was on narcotics recovering from surgery and yelled at me for missing a court date the day after I had a major surgery under general anesthesia! She yelled at me, disrespected me, and now my child keeps on saying he wants to kill himself for being with his mother! This is a terrible judge!
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12/10/18 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
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I believe that she knows the law but thinks she dictates how it is implemented. She likes to throw out words of how things happen in her court. All courts are governed by the same laws. I am getting out of a verbally abusive marriage and walked into a verbally abusive court room. She belittles and threatens most people before her. Divorce is a horrible experience and she is making it worse. She has so much to say from the bench but her rulings do not come in a timely fashion. I have had to go back to the courthouse to get them. She contradicts herself from one meeting to the next. She requested documents from me and when I brought them to court she would not look at them and said she was not interested. My attorney and others are bending over backwards to keep her in a good disposition. Sad how her mood dictates the fate of all the people that walk through her doors.
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11/6/18 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
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1 |
Judge Melanie Gargas is autocratic and demeaning. She clearly lacks Judicial Temprament She appointed a lawyer conservator for a nursing home patient who clearly has capable family members. The Nursing Home Administrators failed to provide the Family with information when requested and referred them to lawyer/conservator who referred the family members back to Nursing Home Administrators. Judge Gargas failed to recognized these facts and berated the Family's Lawyer.
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10/6/18 |
1 |
1 |
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I'm a mother and for some reason this unbiased horrible Judge Gargas despises me and has humiliated and belittle me for trying to protect my child from my abusive ex. She has allowed him to control and stalk me legally through the court system. I'm in fear of my life and constantly looking over my shoulder. He gets away with all his lies.
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9/20/18 |
1 |
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Judge Melanie Gargas is a crook. biased against men, is against any man that stands up for his rights. I was a dad for 30 years never had a problem, worked hard to give my 6 kids the best. Gargas stated to me at our first encounter that I didn't know how to respect authority. This may be because I had Judge Spenser Kagan removed as my judge another piece of you know what. I hadn't spoken a word to Gargas , obviously she had a bias against me because I stood up like a man to defend my family. maybe she needs a date or something to change her behavior. She caused me to lose my children for three years. I have a 6 year old and a 12 year old as well as grown children. She is just a rotten individual. I cant say enough bad things about her, She refused to recuse herself in my case, I am going to have to handle this differently. She needs to be removed.
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8/2/18 |
1 |
1 |
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This judge spent her entire day belittling and talking down to every person in court. It was disturbing to see and even more disturbing that she gets away with it. I was there for something minor but we witnessed her belittling, being patronizing and horrible to a young woman trying to protect her child from abuse from the biological father and the fathers parents. She had no regard and it was disturbing to see how badly the young woman was treated. The judge also seemed to favor the other lawyer and it felt a bit unethical. I can’t believe this woman is in this seat and able to treat people the way she did today. She should be stripped of her judgeship!
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5/15/18 |
1 |
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3 |
1 |
Biased against younger people, Overall was very rude, and didn't understand any of the situation just made up her mind based straight off someone "looking like a punk"
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12/4/17 |
1 |
1 |
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Totally in it for her own financial gain. I had a complicated divorce and although she said she knew about stock options–she clearly knew nothing. When I tried to manage the cost of my legal fees by asking that only she come to court versus bringing an assistant she started charging me for all legal fees at her rate. When my ex-husband left the country she acted as though nothing could be done–she was wrong. She didn't even file the attachment for $$ we found until four days later so that flew out of the country. She didn't file the bench warrant either. I've never seen such greed after spending $30,000 in legal fees.
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11/5/16 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
Acts as nothing but a debt collector. Is biased against men. A dictatorial know knotting who tries to legislate from her privilidged position. A total harpy.
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11/19/14 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
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My ex refers to Melanie as a bull dog. Clearly she made sure we had a fair agreement despite a massive amount of hidden money and complications of family business. The system left to its own devices leaves many women and children living beneath the poverty level while daddy runs off and enjoys a much easier lifestyle and access to way more resources. It's necessary to have a true advocate and a tough cookie in your court. Get Melanie before your husband does :-)
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11/9/11 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
Without her tenacity, knowledge and guidance, my children and I would have been financially and emotionally ruined. Attorney Gargas continues to shepherd my family through difficult situations and provide the support required as my ex-spouse continues to try to ignore and circumvent a well-written and more than fair divorce agreement drafted with my children's needs as the primary focus. I would and have on many occasions recommended her to others who require the level of expertise, tenacity and vigilance of Attorney Gargas!!!
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4/5/10 |
1 |
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2 |
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tries to make experience as adversarial and bitter as possible.
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