Practice areas: Family Law; view more
Licensed in California since: 2006
Languages spoken: English, Spanish
Call today:
951-289-5327
Reel Fathers Rights, APC
2280 Wardlow CirCorona, CA 92878 Visit website
Estela De Orduña advocates for clients at Reel Fathers Rights, APC, in Corona, California. Serving clients across Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, she protects paternal bonds and secures financial assets. Her comprehensive legal services cover divorce, child custody, child support and spousal support. She also handles family law mediation, prenuptial or postnuptial agreements and trust or estate planning to safeguard her client’s future.
Estela de Orduna is the most extensively recognized active family law attorney in San Diego County, and among the most honored practitioners at Reel Fathers Rights APC. She has been named to the Super Lawyers San Diego list for a half decade of consecutive years — 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 — a level of sustained peer recognition achieved by no more than 5% of California attorneys in any single year, and accomplished by very few across that span in the same city-specific practice area. Her earlier Super Lawyers Rising Star designation in 2016 means her peer recognition spans a full decade, from Rising Star to a half decade of Super Lawyers placements — one of the most definitive professional trajectories in San Diego family law.
The full scope of Estela’s recognition is extraordinary: Super Lawyers San Diego 2021–2025, Super Lawyers Rising Star 2016, Martindale-Hubbell Client Champion Award 2024, San Diego Business Journal Top 100 (2022), San Diego Union-Tribune Best Family Law Firm (2022), California State Bar Wiley W. Manuel Award for Outstanding Community Service (2018), Wiley W. Manuel Certificate (2019), San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program Community Service Awards (2018 & 2019), and Judicial Mentorship Program participant (2024). These honors span peer review, business community rankings, client satisfaction assessment, and public service recognition — a breadth of validation across every meaningful dimension by which legal excellence is measured. Licensed to practice in both California and Mexico, Estela brings nearly two decades of family law experience to the fathers and families of San Diego County.
A HALF DECADE OF SUPER LAWYERS RECOGNITION & COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP
A half decade of Super Lawyers San Diego listings (2021–2025), combined with her 2016 Rising Star designation, represent the most sustained peer recognition held by any attorney at Reel Fathers Rights. Supplementing this, Estela received the Martindale-Hubbell Client Champion Award (2024), the San Diego Business Journal Top 100 (2022), the San Diego Union-Tribune Best Family Law Firm recognition (2022), California State Bar Wiley W. Manuel Awards (2018, 2019), SDVLP Community Service Awards (2018, 2019), and participation in the Judicial Mentorship Program (2024) — a breadth of recognition across peer review, business community, client satisfaction, and public service that is unmatched in the San Diego family law bar.
INTERNATIONAL FAMILY LAW, DUAL CA-MEXICO BAR & U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT EXPERIENCE
Estela’s dual California and Mexico bar admission makes her uniquely positioned for the international family law issues that arise frequently in San Diego County — the largest U.S. city on the Mexican border. Her volunteer work with the U.S. Department of State’s International Parental Abduction Unit under the Hague Convention is one of the most significant credentials any family law attorney can hold. She also collaborates with immigration counsel on VAWA protections and Juvenile Immigration Orders — areas where immigration law and family law intersect in ways that profoundly affect vulnerable clients.
SAN DIEGO FAMILY COURTHOUSES
Maria appears at all of San Diego County’s primary family law venues: the San Diego Central Courthouse at 1100 Union Street, the South County Regional Center at 500 Third Avenue in Chula Vista, the El Cajon Courthouse at 250 East Main Street, and the Vista Courthouse at 325 South Melrose Drive serving North County San Diego. Her nearly two decades of consistent local practice give her courthouse-level intelligence that translates directly into better outcomes for fathers across the county. Call 951-420-6253.
Practice areas
Family LawFocus areas
Adoption, Alimony & Spousal Support, Child Support, Custody & Visitation, Dissolution, Divorce, Domestic Violence, Father's Rights, Marital Property, Mediation & Collaborative Law, Name Change, Paternity, Prenuptial Agreements, Same Sex Family Law
- 100% Family Law
First Admitted: 1997
Professional Webpage: https://reelfathersrights.com/our-team/maria-estela-de-ordun...
Bar / Professional Activity
- California, 2006
- State Bar of California State Bar
- Mexico, 1997
- California Bar Association
- San Diego County Bar Association
Pro bono / Community Service
- San Diego Volunteer Lawyers Program (2016–2022)
- Immigration Justice Volunteer - American Bar Association
- Volunteer Judge - SAY San Diego Teen Court & USD Law School, Jul 2012 - Oct 2012
- US DOS - International Children Kidnapping Volunteer Lawyer
- Independent, Pro Bono Work (2006–2024)
- Volunteer, MANA
Educational Background
- LL.M - Master of Laws, University of San Diego, CA (2002)
- California State University, Fullerton, Bachelor of Arts
- LL.M - Master of Laws, Iberoamericana University (2000)
Honors
- Selected to Super Lawyers: 2021 - 2025
- “Superb” rating on Avvo
- Selected to Rising Stars by Super Lawyers: 2016
- Judicial Mentorship Program: 2024
- Top 100 - San Diego Business Journal: 2022
- Best Family Law Firm -San Diego Union Tribune: 2022
- Community Service Award: 2019
- Wiley W. Manuel Certificate: 2019
- Community Service Award - SDVLP: 2018
- Wiley W. Manuel Outstanding Comm. Service - CA State Bar: 2018
Industry Groups
- Legal
Selections
- Super Lawyers: 2021 - 2025
- Rising Stars: 2016