Philadelphia Family Court Review

I sat on hold while AT WORK for 45 min with no answer!?!? Worse than the DMV!!!

If I could give zero stars i would. Just like everyone's experience, they never answer the phone for general questions.

They send letters with Case Workers name and I cannot verify if faxes were received. I hate this place. All the money spent to build a new building and still ,horrible phone and in person contact remains the same.

Philadelphia PA Family Court Services deserves a big F for failure to the community it serves.

By the way for those who stated be humble and kind and so forth,
and their ratings were 5 while blaming others, please note that small and large businesses whether it Cuis havea restaurant , bank, physicians office heck even YMCA have service contact numbers where people answer to meet the concern of the caller.
It is ironic how all 95 percent of the reviewers posted the same revolving issues.

Try calling while starting your work day , lunch or day off and please share how you were able to be successfully answered.

Wasn't allowed in the courtroom with my son at custody hearing for his child. Why not?

Pretty sure no one work here. Been calling for 3 weeks, I have yet to get anyone. Glad my tax money is well spent.

All judges are imposters... There have been NO REAL JUDGES since 1945.. all public offices were relinquished to the United Nations... They are all administrative clerks only and committing fraud upon the courts and the people... Kidnapping and child human trafficking for their own financial gains (RICO act).... They disguise themselves as judges givind rulings under maritime jurisdiction.... Judge Joseph Fernandes your fraud and felonies are stacking up... Keep em coming... Abuse of power, obstruction of justice, malicious prosecution, breach of oath of office, unlawful arrest (trezevant v city of Tampa) and many more...

Reading the reviews here had me very skeptical about even trying to file for Custody. I was at this office from 08:10am-10:45am which in hind site went honestly pretty fast. From start to finish the whole process was a breeze. The representative I had named Irene was AMAZING and FRIENDLY. I waited in line the first time to see a rep for about 20 mins. I was explained to fill out the application ASAP to see someone the faster i filled it out and completed it the faster ill be seen. They were right!!!. I filed all the paperwork, saw the person who schedules the court hearings and that was that. You don't need a Money Order either to file they have card machines 107.13 filing fee. When I did call before I actually went to file I always got through. Like other people said maybe its the attitude you give off to them. Being polite and friendly goes a long way and thats me talking for them and also being int he Customer Service Field myself.

Edit: I'm not saying I wasn't going to file and what I was reading was going to deter me from filing. But from the reviews I didn't have time to keep spending on coming back and forth. If you have the money and get there early by Allah everything will go smooth just have some patience.

I like Philadelphia family court they answer the phone never had a problem with the service and everyone that picks up is very helpful. I get in and I get out period nothing else to say

My experience was horrible the DHS workers are the lowest of the low. There have no Emotional or hearts. Judge Vincent Johnson can can less about the innocent parents that are present or the other Judge taking his place. Now, I am trying to obtain a PFA from abuse from Kevin Johnson and followers and no one is in the building or answer phones and dealt with the abuse for too long in this State because of lack of money and high status friends.

I've been abused and my children abused by the legal structure here. Stay away from any attorney that charges you above $1,000 retainer. Its all a lie. If you're a man especially. All parents are given every other weekend.

Nobody ever answers the phone!!! Ive been waiting for 5 hours to speak to someone

They suck at finding absent parents. I actually found my daughter's father quicker than they even attempted to. And on top of that, they CONSTANTLY botch up important information. Philadelphia Family Court is nothing but a joke!!!

I went online and typed Philadelphia Family Court and the department that I was looking for..ex. Philadelphia Family Court Child Support. It brought up an entire list of departments, and I simply chose the department that I needed and was able to speak to a representative. Hope this helps.

Let the phone ring for five minutes nobody answers???? Don't understand the point!!!! Trying to get important stuff done no help

Why have a customer service phone number that no one ever answers? I get text messages not even 5 business days before upcoming dates. I don't even live in this stupid state. Just downright terrible

Horrible should be closed down 10 min of phone ringing and not 1 human voice answers

The Honorable Thompson is the worst judge she didn t even bother to listen to arguments it seemed she had made up her mind before the hearing. She does not deserve the respect that is given to her.

No one ever answers the phone and half the numbers do not have voicemail's so they are left ringing and ringing. Horrible

They never answer the phone now i have to go there and pay for parking And sit for hours all because they won t answer the phone

I'm an employer and can never get through when I have paperwork issues. The paperwork they send has the wrong fax number on it and no one answers the phone. This is horrible. The phone rang for 15 minutes before I finally hung up

Worst service ever! Get a good customer service at least. Why have a phone number when it's never answered or in use?

I ve been calling for weeks now and still no answer these people don t care they come do their 8 then skate! WE NEED MORE LOVE IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA

Clerk of Court was rude, condescending & nasty right off the bat. If you hate your job that much move on & don't take it out on the rest of us who are calling for your help.

as a father I was treated unfairly. I'm one of those dads that wants to be in my kids life and instead of helping me with that they seemed to turn a deaf ear to my pleas. Then after so many attempts they said my case wasn't even in their jurisdiction. So I felt played because I had to pay to be seen. But I forgive you all in Jesus name.

If I could rate them in the negative I would. This institution is the worst. Call and the phone just rings as if no one is there at work. I'm on the phone trying to call them now and the phone just rings. Thank God for speaker phones and headsets. The other day I was able to get through but it took someone 30 minutes to get on the phone. Do yourself a favor and write the President of Family Court of Philadelphia if you have a pressing issue that is not getting their attention. I did that when family court was trying to stick it to me for arrears that I did not owe. BAM!!!! Got a phone call from them and it was all cleared up. I hope I got the person in trouble who told me that they were going to follow up with me and never did especially after I took off from work to go to this office.

This is a horrible process and the City of Phila process needs rebuild and the ignorant people that work there is horrible to deal with when I went through the process years ago. I'm glad I do not have to be apart of this process again. I feel sorry for anyone that as that has to be expose to this process.

If only I could give a zero, this entity is very biased and are all about business/money, and not the well being of children. These children are pawns and domestic relations take pride in destroying families, alienating children from parents, fathers in particularly. During these covid times, so many are playing guessing games concerning our cases. There are those who has supervised visits, now cancelled because of covid, and family court has done nothing to give parents another option so that parents can see and commincate with their children. I can go and on and on. This place is criminal, and ppl as a whole, legally, need to hold this place accountable for the evil that they cause for families, more importantly, children.

Horrible service, domestic relations never answers the phone, interstate never answers the phone. If you owe back child support bet your ass they answer. Smdh

Very long wait times but what can you expect in family court? The judge we had for our adoption hearing was nice and made the experience a very happy one (as it should be!). He was willing to take pictures with us and didn't rush us in any way. Court personnel were also nice and helpful and put us in a separate waiting area away from the people who were losing parental rights or there for abuse cases. When people coming out of the various courtrooms got out of hand and started screaming or making threats, the police officers who worked there quickly and quietly got the situation under control, which was nice. I also must mention the Philadelphia family court adoption social worker, Bernie, who was absolutely fabulous and made the entire process a pleasure!

Its sad that it has come to this. I wish I could rate this system ZERO stars. The stigma involving family court and child custody matter is that the courts are "NOT" just for the women BUT equal rights for mothers AND fathers.

They don t do research on anything they are lazy and ones who don t pay child support they let go for over $11,000. Worst place ever

rude and disrespectful workers here and the court payment options suck

No one is available to help!! Sent a hr tryin to find the correct floor i was to be on

If you don't have information how can you get more information they want to number if you don't have it how could you ask or inquire about your case

The "master" was beyond reasonable. Totally one sided and disregarded the law. Corruption runs amuck in Philadelphia, which seems to be the standard of the USA anymore. Why women get all the breaks is beyond me. I moved out of Philly 30 yrs ago and haven't regretted it at all! Someone needs to clean out city hall & it's associated offices. Rats are running rampant

The one judge there was rude he toke my son off me n gave him to his dad bc I was late register in him for school .n the dad never did nothing for him never even paid child support n he didn't won't to hear nothing I had to say .he discriminated me for being young with 7 kids .now since the dad had him I haven't saw him in almost 2 year n I have no contact with him file a tem court last year n still haven't got a new court date since covid-19 been around

No one answered the phone nor any questions nor concerns we may have. The court system have to get more people educated and responsible enough to fill the job requirements. And willing to give the right information and resources.

Horrible service the people running the place should be fired. You call and all you get is computers, you go down there long lines, then employees there have an attitude and are complete morons who dont care about you or anything your going thru its dispicable too call this place Philly family court. Ohh and they always close early, way before 5 like there supposed

They don't care about these rates,this city is a joke,I haven't got my whole "$40" payment In 10 months, they don't care,the system is a joke. Help these ppl get a damn job, so these ppl can help take care of their kids!

"Judge Thompson" refused to review important court documentation that can Jeopardize the safety of my child and made a decision with out reviewing it!. the judge messed up the times on the order because she allowed her emotions to take over yelled at me in the court room definitely not in the best interest of the child. The only thing good I will say is when I was filling for an appeal the clerk on the 11th floor helped me and directed me to the right place to go to take care of this judge careless screw up... The judge gets negative stars...

We are in the military and getting anything from them is like pulling teeth. My husband provides support for his children and is from Philadelphia and every time he has to contact them I feel so bad for him. I am from Texas and Texas has always provided great Customer Service and I get them to respond quickly to all of my needs. Philadelphia in comparison is the worst I have ever seen people are not helpful and rude and every time he needs anything accomplished it is impossible!!! This state has people pay STATE and FEDERAL taxes and I can tell NONE of these dollar are put to work there...what a SHAME!

I have a PFA hearing tommorow morning, I have called 25-30 different numbers and keep getting different answers , see we are in the middle of the corona epidemic some workers told me court is still open for pfa hearings while some told me it is postponed for corona, I am more unsure after I talked to court!! Governor Wolf should stop worrying about raising cost of drivers license 110% and fix our family court system it is all a disgrace

Do you even answer the phone? You make it very hard for people out of state to call in for information on a case or to request service. i'm not driving 6 hours for nothing.

Never can get in touch with anyone in this place. I suppose to take off work to go downtown & pay for parking to get an answer. Then more then likely have to return at a later date. Must be a great job that all they do is nothing.

It's a mad house. Do your self a favor and try to stay away from family court it's hard to get out of once your in the system

It's not easy being in here but once you're in, its not as bad as some might say. Just stay calm, and be ready to wait

They never answer the phone even when you call doing non peak hours

Because they take people's kids for no apparent reasons

I was told to be here at 7:00 am only to be treated rudely by the guard telling me to have a seat, and that I may not use the restroom because they open at 8. I can tell this is going to be a horrible trip already.

I have a court case coming up and me and my x can't get through on the phone, septa in Philadelphia is not running, I'm not able to inform y'all of what's going on, but soon as Nov 9 comes and I don't show up, I get locked up, when I've been calling all this week, worse then bad service, its horrible, I didn't even want to put a star anywhere near this kind of system.

Horrible place plan on being there forever then when finally your turn court last ten minutes

If I can rate zero stars I would! After an appeal was put it from the plaintiff we had to come back to see Beth Oswald regarding a support agreement. This woman would not let me speak, very unprofessional, rude and nasty. This was my first time even going through the system and I didn t understand everything 100% and how the system works.... I walked out of there feeling discriminated against for now working however she didn t even give me the chance to explain that I was laid off. I m a professional with State Professional Licencies... don t judge a book by its cover judge !!!

This place is HORRIBLE. They take forever doing anything. It s like a bunch of slugs working there.

ALL FATHERS! File for either PRIMARY or SHARED physical and legal custody of your children. This is the most efficient way to parent your kids without an emotionally unstable ex trying to stop you. No more talking. Just do it.

This court is a joke. The judges are horrible, unprofessional and ghetto and so is the customer service representatives. They lie on you and Judge Doris Pechkurow threatens people and she is still presiding over cases. Judge Doris Pechkurow threaten to cause harm to myself, my lawyer and the other party by throwing her gavel at us. What Judge says or does that? This is how you know that the recordings are not being checked. No one trust to help or assist you in the court if you need help or direction. The guards there act as if they are the real cops. Everyone here has complete attitudes and appears to be extremely miserable. The Judges are not to help families or children they are for complete drama and mental breakdowns for everyone involved. These Judges want to see Mothers and Fathers at each other's throats. They let criminals come out of jail to get into their childrens life without any therapy or noticeable change. The entire place is corrupted. No one at this place has a kind heart. People are walking around like Zombies to be a body at a desk with a pulse, just to fill the position. You no longer have to be professional, courteous, friendly, helpful or anything. Just fill out an application and your hired. The kids come to the court and they get treated like criminals and that's if they even get noticed at all. Not to mention no one ever answers the phone and after an hour after holding on and falling asleep, the staff has nasty attitudes. And after all of the horrible reviews posted on here, sadly nothing will ever get done about it. GD Luck! To anyone having to visit this crooked Court system.

absolutely horrible and completely deplorable. I called because my husband had a stroke and they gave him a court state in 2 weeks. After being on hold for over a half hour I finally got the rudest person in the world. I was told that she could not discuss any information on the court case me. When I explain that I wasn't trying to get information I only wanted to know what documents they needed to prove that he was in the hospital she got nasty and rude to me. When I told her she was being ridiculous she got very sarcastic and said wow. You should be ashamed of the organization that you are running. No wonder so many parents get screwed over because of Philadelphia Family Court. I am disgusted and I am furious. Horrible horrible horrible

This court system is horrendous beyond belief. The officials are rude and ill-mannered, ignorant and negligent, deeply biased against mothers and completely unaccountable to the people who pay their generous salaries and benefits. I wish I could give negative stars.

Hands down the weakest customer service I ve ever experienced. It s almost like nobody works there. You almost never get an answer when you call. If you do get answer they give you a half answer. Their email contact service is just as weak. The only reason I rated them with one star is because it s the lowest I can go. But even then, one star is too nice of a rating. This whole system needs to be scrubbed and redeveloped.

Every since my father abandoned me in my brother for another family in 2010 when I was 11 in now I'm 17 going on 18 my mother been in and out of court for years getting family court of Philadelphia to make my father do the right thing by us in they don't care because it's not there children or love ones going threw this. My father owe me in my brother $10,429.65 he don't get me or my brother nothing for our birthday's holidays or anything else yes he's a pig! my father have a court order to pay me in my brother a certain amount every month in he haven't been in years, it's dads out here do the right thing by there children in the court systems harass them in let a person like my father get away with what he's doing. Family court of Philadelphia allows my father to continue to disobey an order to keep the court system in business in that's not fair to me in my brother family court of Philadelphia is the worst court system ever in there suppose to be for the children there a joke in a fraud in I'm glad I'm not apart of that city anymore

Horrible Horrible Horrible. Thrives on dysfunction. The system is completely corrupt. Philadelphia Family Court totally destroyed my family.

It is staffed with a multitude of malfunctioning robots. Citizens are at their mercy and whim.

Prepare to wait. Prepare to be sent from one floor or desk to the next and back again. Rude staff either won t answer questions such as, this is the right form I m filing, right? Or they give wrong information. My very favorite response, I can t help you, I m not a lawyer falls out of the desk clerks mouths when asking questions as simple as, this is the right form I m filing, right? It even dropped out of the mouth of a judge, unsolicited, in the courtroom.

The judges are idiots (see above) and corrupt (see below) And they were more concerned about this or that piece of paper than the well-being of (my) (abused) children.
One of the judges who presided over my custody case was fired shortly thereafter (along with a second Philadelphia Family Court judge) for ethics violations (12/2016).

This is the Philadelphia Destroys-Your-Family Court.

Beware: Once you get in, you can t get out.

Noone wants to do their job. All they do is give you the run arounds and keep pushing the problem off to someone else. Unbelievable how customer service is now days

Trying to get customer service on the phone is the worst everyone answers but them sad.

They never answer the phone, just calling to get some general information. We have to take a day off to go downtown and ask a question? Are you serious? Please put a contact number in place so we can get the resources we need.

The family is at it's end. No court or representatives of the court can fix it.
We as a nation and a people have reached a point of depravity unequaled
in all of human history, while the slaughter of millions upon millions of innocent children continues.
This court and all other courts are over stressed and under staffed.
The value of life and our most precious resource our children has become all about money and nothing more. I'm afraid we're all suffering because of our own selfish material desires and or our ambitions.
The heart of this problem is 'The problem of our heart'
Our hearts have become hard and often very cold, and Legalistic.
Our love is non existent, Only our selfish desires is at the forefront of our minds.
There is no court that can fix this, No judge that can fix this.
There needs to be a change of heart from within ourselves. That change can only come from above by divine providence!
If you find yourself in the family court, look around and you'll see yourself, you'll see the brokenness of the family and all the children's lives.
The saddest of all experience is in the family court of broken dreams.
Only GOD can fix this mess!

"If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him,
He will forsake you."
2 Chronicles 15:2

Been waiting since 2008 for a hearing. It has been scheduled and canceled last minute 193 times. How do you protect a 13 year old child when they are 25 before they get to court?

The family court system in Philadelphia is the absolute worst. The rulings are laughable and they have zero concept of protecting the rights of both parents. I ve watched my friends children be kidnapped and the Judges helped. Mom and dad both had joint custody, yet after the judges grant the orders they have zero intentions of ensuring dad gets his visitation rights. He filed contempt s, called child services, the police etc. The judge ended up dismissing the contempt of not allowing the children to see dad when it was his time and saying it was more or less up to the 11 year old, (who with proof and thousands of pages of texts of manipulation by mom) left it up to her. It was one joke after another. The judge even told the mom that her open wounds of personal destain for the dad was affecting thee children. Duh!! Anyway not just because I m from Texas, but the justice system in Philadelphia is a joke and it s no wonder it s ruled as one of the scummiest cities in the U.S. No wonder, it s crooks leading crooks!

They never answer the phone. Customer service is quick to get an attitude when you're trying to explain your situation. I no longer live in Philadelphia and they won't fix my situation

Pick up the phone please people live out of the state what should we do so please pick up the phone.

It's sucks don't live in Philadelphia can't get through the customer service bull put real people on the phone lines

Extremely unreliable they do not answer phones or emails.

The Philadelphia Family Court System is an absolute disgrace.

I can't complain. If there's anyone to blame, it's the parents for not playing their part. If it's one or both, in the end I believe we're the problem.
My kids mother saw it fit to attempt to remove me from the picture and continue on as if I didn't matter. I quickly put myself on 'Child Support' & am constantly fighting to see them.
It's b/c of 'Family Court' that I've been able to be apart of their lives again. And though she appears to show no signs of changing her ways, I can rest easy knowing that just with a little faith, patience & family court (there to judge accordingly); my kids will always have me in the picture.
Now, regarding the staff:
I've honestly I've never had any problems with anyone there. They were extremely helpful and if I ever had someone with an attitude I quickly resolved it with kindness.
Remember, they're not perfect & it's not easy dealing with stock piles of cases & paperwork. So I can only imagine the stress levels they indore on a daily basis...
My advice? Stay 'humble & kind'.
You'd be surprised how far as positive attitude will get you.
God bless & good luck!!
Respectfully yours,
Joel...

Philadelphia Child Support is the worst.The workers are very unprofessional,disrespectful and could careless.After yrs.of my children's father not coming to court he finally came in 15 yrs.later and had 2 money orders worth $668.00 the judge gave him 90 days in jail I was told that the money would be available in 5-7 days.When it WASN'T there I went back to court to ask about it and was told there was no record of him paying anything.So now I'm asking to speak this person,that person trying to find out what happend.I spoke to my children's dad and he said he DIDN'T have a chance to sign them.SO NOW I KNOW WHAT HAPPEND.THEY HAVE THIEVES WORKING FOR US.10yrs.later and never got an answers Or any Justice.....

Went before a judge in a custody matter today paperwork I was sent that told me when to appear also said bring any medical records,school records so I bring medical records because my daughter's diabetic and has been repeatedly admitted to St.Christophers for a life threatening condition called ketones because mom isn't taking good care of her.When I raise the issue lawyer objects judge sustained refused to look at the records.what a travesty.why even say bring medical records.now have to worry about my daughter's life this was definitely not in my daughter's best interests as they say that's what they consider and theres such a thing called funtime now not only did my ex get primary custody where she has our daughter 5 days a week she also gets a weekend out of certain months for funtime as her attorney put it and the judge agreed to it.I file a petition for a modification and nothing was addressed on my petition new 16 factors same bias against males in family court.

Most terrible place on earth. Most horrible people ever. Way to go city of Philadelphia.......

95% of these comments are "1 " . How much would you like to bet that NOTHING WILL CHANGE.

It the Court open today 3/25 I have an appointment and not sure if they are open

I wish I could give them no stars. They are very rude. Especially the Judges and Court Officers. They kept saying the same thing I already knew. I m trying to explain to them why, it s like they didn t want to hear it. I shouldn t be able to get an Attorney for something that shows me how to complete whats need to be done on the first page of the document I received. The City need to do their Job. It s very sad.

you would think that after all these bad reviews the city would fix this issue.

I have been trying to call Family Court for days and the phone rings nonstop. This is very unprofessional to have a customer service number and no one to pickup the call. I worked in customer service and we had a strict adherence to answering incoming calls and not keeping customers waiting or on hold. It is sad that we cannot get a live person on line, instead we just a dead end ringing number. I do not understand why Family Court do not have a dedicated customer service number to assist people with their questions or complaints. Some of us work and taking a day off is not pleas-able depending on our careers and hours. All I want is to get someone from Family Court to pick up the call and answer my questions. I have called early in the morning, in the afternoon, and even an hour or half to closing and no answer. Poor Customer Service when in it comes to calling Family Court. HELLO...IS THERE AN ACTUAL NUMBER WE CAN CALL AND GET A PERSON ON THE LINE???JUST SAYING.

Its onesided...why even ask us men to come there, it's a waste of our time

Wow all these bad reviews over the years and they havent done ANYTHING to change. Cant get access to the child support website and was told to call to get information and now NO ONE ANSWERS!!!!! This is beyond ridiculous. The Philadelphia Family Courts SHOULD be ashamed of themselves!!!!!