Comment #: MD9404
Rating:1.0
Comments:
Judge Hessler is biased towards women and should be investigated. Everything is supposed to be in the best interest of the child but he has granted a verbally and mentally abusive man tie breaking authority and residential custody giving me the child’s mother every other weekend. On top of that a man that doesn’t pay taxes and gets “paid under the table”, me a hard working mother of 2, has to pay this man child support. Did I mention this verbally and mentally abusive man is financially supported by his mother! My child has been wrongfully taken away from me. I am not a druggie. I am not an alcoholic. I have a child with my current husband and a stable job. I get to see my son every other weekend which means his younger brother only get to see him then too! Judge Hessler has stayed with this case due to it being F1FJ. And anything I do to better my family and myself has been ignored. The main person that is being hurt and affected by this ignorance is my 6 year old son. He is scared of his father and begs me not to send him. And what now?? He has him for most of the time. No wonder Montgomery County is going to shit, this system is truly absurd! JUDGE HESSLER NEEDS TO BE LOOKED INTO. HE NEEDS TO BE REMOVED AND INVESTIGATED. Enough is enough! I have been fighting a losing battle for 6 years with him. Is he being paid off or is just out to hurt children and women?

Comment #: MD9369
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
[Redacted by Ed.] As referral judge for my request to recuse the Trial Judge (Schweitzer), denied my request based solely on “noncompliance with motions rules“ even though recusal request is not even a motion. Did not care at all that all of the attorneys in the case committed fraud on the court (“one of the most serious offenses possible in a court of law“ punishable by disbarment), raising concerns about his interest in upholding up integrity of legal proceedings. Completely non-responsive to the substance of my recusal request, which was based on concerns about prejudice and appearance of impropriety, including trial judge not caring at all about my reporting or attorney, ethics, violations, and misconduct; allowing my former attorney to lie in court; intentionally excluding me from private discussion with both attorneys, who came out :-) if not laughing. All raising concerns about judicial impropriety.

Also took one and a half months to decide recusal request, which should be decided as quickly as possible; during that time, the challenged judge is not supposed to make decisions in the case, but she kept doing so, including and appropriately denying my request for reassignment to a different judge, which should be decided by the administrative judge.

Unfortunately, administrative judge (Bonifant) [Redacted by Ed.]; did not care that all the attorneys in the case had committed fraud in the court permitted by the trial judge; when I tried to report problems, his staff insisted only on verbal discussion, and would not allow me to communicate concerns in writing, even though I said this would be necessary with a Judge Bonifant because I’m not comfortable with him. When I said i did not know the name of the person that I was talking to from his office, this person actually hung up on me.

There is no accountability at Montgomery county circuit court, because the administrative judge is not willing to uphold the integrity of proceedings, or the code of judicial ethics, or anything that judges are actually supposed to do.

Comment #: MD9258
Rating:9.9
Comments:
I have been involved in constant litigation with my son's mother for the past 15 years, and I feel like I have encountered every nasty, condescending, and not up to speed on family law that I can imagine. Judge Hessler is the ONLY judge that I have encountered in the Montgomery County Circuit Court system who demonstrated an intimate knowledge of my case. The case had to run over two days and couple of 1/2 days, and Judge Hessler was able to speak to details from the initial hearing days that happened 8 weeks prior. Most importantly, Judge Hessler let both of us speak when answering questions. This allowed the litigants to give a true window into who they are as people, why they feel the way they feel about the issues, and allows him to get a good feel for the litigants. The other nasty and condescending judges would berate me when I tried to supplement my yes or no answer with actual information to explain why I feel the way I feel. These incompetent a-holes weren't interested determining the truth - they had already made up their minds before they entered the courtroom imo. In terms of even handedness, Judge Hessler denied many of mine and my son's mothers motions and made the payments of my son's extraordinary medical expenses more fair so that both parents share the costs more evenly. I still bear the overwhelming burden of costs, but I don't feel indentured to her whims any longer. Judge Hessler took the time to explain matters, and his rulings in a very calm manner and didn't make it about himself (I wish I could rate that nasty Master Lisa Segel who wouldn't let me speak and wanted to talk about her hearing problem throughout the hearing. Judge Salant is another loser but you can read his reviews for yourself). In summary, neither party got everything they wanted, but his rulings were based on what is reasonable, lawful, and really feasible in our case. It saddens me that I didn't have Judge Hessler in any of my hearings prior to this. I wonder how my life and my relationship with my son would have turned out differently had that been the case.

Comment #: MD8218
Rating:10.0
Comments:
While I am certain that the tenor of all litigant reviews of any Judge depends upon the success of their own individual case, I was determined to offer my opinion about Judge Hessler regardless of the outcome of mine. For full disclosure, however, I "won" my case and successfully attained shared custody of my 8 year old daughter under the terms I had fought for during a tiring 17 month period. Without going into excessive detail about the case, the following are my thoughts on Judge Hessler.

There is no amount of overblown rhetoric, fabrication, accusation or inflammatory language used by a divorce attorney that Hessler doesn't see through. As a 46 year old male who lost two brothers to Cancer and quickly turned to the wrong solution - alcohol - to ease the pain, my marriage began to suffer greatly, admittedly at my hands. Yet, after my wife used her energy to confide in and plot with friends for months, then left with our child and successfully filed a restraining order based off of a snapshotted series of angry and threatening text messages, I was forced to file suit to protect the rights of our daughter. Namely, shared custody between both parents, as she shouldn't be made to carry the burden of our marital issues or attempted vindication by a parent. With no criminal record, a sterling and documented track record as a Father, nothing to indicate even a remote instance of putting my child in harm's way, and a 17 month continual and clinically-proven abstinence from alcohol, the court was treated to an opening statement regarding my "racist" beliefs, "long history" of alcohol abuse and likelihood of relapse, raging infidelity and abhorrent physical and mental abuse of my wife. While it's par for the course in such cases I assume, one is never prepared to listen to the person he married create such stories and accusations, much less enlist the help of former neighbors and friends to lie under oath to corroborate it. Add an overaggressive attorney who signs off on said strategy and even rogue actions of his client (provided his bills are paid promptly via direct deposit), and have a full blown three-day circus called a "trial" when the only focus should be on the best interests of the child, not the parents.

Enter Judge Hessler. Relatively quiet, yet clearly commands respect in his courtroom. Complimentary of each party's counsel and enjoys when cases are handled civilly and professionally. Listens intently and continuously takes meticulous notes on testimony. Ask questions of counsel when he is uncertain of what was said or if he needs to pause to review particular case law. He entertains the dramatic window dressing and perhaps humors those creating it but, in the end, he relies on facts rather than adjectives, that which is in front of him rather than that which has no substance, and pays great attention to detail in weeding fact from fiction.

In the end, Judge Hessler awarded me the full shared custody that I sought for my daughter, and served notice that the long-assumed bias for the mother in these types of custody cases may be waning or at least shifting after all. If Judge Hessler is hearing your case and you are armed with the truth, even if partially ugly, congratulations and feel confident. If you are story-teller who feels your gender and elaborate stories will sail right over his head and into his decision, good luck and have a contingency plan in place.

Comment #: MD8192
Rating:3.0
Comments:
Judge Hessler awarded my ex husband, who was admitted as a schizophrenic, mentally ill person by very court evaluator and two other mental health professionals. That father alienated the child for 12 years, and initiated three protective orders, which damaged the child. Moreover, the child became self destructive as a result of mental abuse of his dad, which was proved by multiple professionals. When the child started thinking for himself, judge Hessler still awarded custody to abusive father, explaining that he decided to "follow father;s suggestion"(!!!) The evaluator stated, that if the child recovers, he needs to be with mom more and that father is ultimately detrimental for the child. But this judge ruled for his father to have custody. Other judges prior to rhis consequiently were taking legal and physical rights from this father, but judge Hessler reinstated those rights right when it was proved how abusive the father was. the child was locked in the mental health facility three times solely based on father's abuse, which was proved by all child' therapists and other specialists.

Comment #: MD7713
Rating:4.0
Comments:
Judge Hessler seems nice, but I don't think most of the Montgomery County judges truly understand the dynamics of the type of domestic abuse that occurs today. He believed my ex that I kicked him and gave me a 4 month protective order. I was mortified and scared.

We later realized it was physically impossible for me to have kicked him. He's 6'4, I'm 5'6". He was standing on a threshhold 8" above me and his bruises was above his sockline. I would have had to raise my foot 1 1/2 to 2 feet, which is not what the video showed. Someone kicked him, but it wasn't me.

Despite the fact that my ex was so abusive and controlling that I had to leave my beautiful home, I ended up with the domestic violence record.

What Judge Hessler doesn't know is that after he issued the PO, my ex, who claimed he feared for his safety with me, kept demanding that I come to his car and to the house alone. When I tried to avoid confrontation, he would approach me, yell at me and accuse me of acting scared and sending a bad message to the kids", in front of the kids. He would also stick his head and hands in my car during the PO period to load the kids and dogs, who were all perfectly capable of getting themselves in the car. My sister and friends, who knew the truth about him, insisted on coming with me so he couldn't set me up again, and they witnessed his predatory behavior.

Since then, he continues to terrorize and harass me --punishing the kids to punish me, more set ups, and vicious, demeaning texts and emails. We ignore his taunts and provocations, but it's been very traumatizing and we are all exhausted and wary.

I hope the judges in MoCo can get better domestic violence training. I hope they realize that the abusers who battered women and children in the past are too smart to that today. They find other ways to terrorize, including the through the courts.

Comment #: MD7462
Rating:9.7
Comments:
Judge Hessler is respectful, listens to the litigants and counsel and makes good decisions based on the law. He is also on time and a pleasure to be in front of. He is particularly well versed in family law.

Comment #: MD7272
Rating:10.0
Comments:
Had a 4 day bench trial with Judge Hessler; great judge; even-handed, smart, pays close attention to the evidence and arguments and works hard. A pleasure to try a case in front of.