Should I fire my attorney?

[ckfrey]

We have made our 60th payment. Other than three payments that the court suspended (via hardship motion), we have made every single payment and on time. When we had the payments suspended, we were told that the trustee could not go past sixty months (by our attorney) and she did not in any way indicate that the suspended payments needed to be "made up" during the course of the sixty months. Anyway, that is not our problem. We will pay back those payments as long as the trustee allows us the time.

Our problem is we cannot get a straight answer from anyone about what the outstanding balance is that is expected to be paid. Our attorney refuses to answer our questions and tells us we are not allowed to contact the trustee. Anytime we do get any semblance of an answer, it is a different number and it has gone up $10k from the last time. Here is what our attorney sent us in response to us asking for a call after yet another very sloppy and confusing email to HER from the trustee's office.

NOTE: This response from our attorney came AFTER she actually requested that we schedule a call in response to the very email she refers to:

"The last comment was mistakenly posted by my paralegal. That I apologize for. But I told you there would be no phone conference. It is not ripe for discussion as I made perfectly clear last night. I will call you when I have the full information. I hope it is clear now."
"I told you I had additional questions for the Trustee and I am following up as I will with you when it is appropriate. Calendaring a call with me does not mean we talk regardless of what is going on. I took the time to text you it was not timely last night. I will be in touch."

This is by far not the first attorney I have had to deal with, and other than opposing counsel, I have never been treated so rudely. I am the customer. I have asked for a call because I have questions that she may not even know about. We have been trying now for three months to get a straight answer and this is basically all we ever get.

Any ideas, anyone?

[justbroke]

Firing your attorney at month 60 of a 60 month Chapter 13 may be drastic. Perhaps your attorney is overwhelmed and doesn't have "any" answer as to what the Trustee is doing. It reads to me that even your attorney's office is confused by what's coming from the Chapter 13 Standing Trustee.

While a plan can't exceed 60 months, Chapter 13s frequently have payments taken in after the 60 months. This is typically to account for accounting issues or payment abatement (skipped payments) during the plan duration.

Closing out a Chapter 13 can take months. I'm still waiting for mine to close and my last payment was in May with my case being discharged in late August. I'm waiting for final accounting on something I thought is/was simple, but apparently they wait 30-60 days to make sure every single check clears and that there are no creditors filing any motions relative to the discharge.

For example, I waited for discharge for 3 months before I asked the Trustee what was wrong. They were waiting on my tax refund. I had sent a payment from my bank by bill pay. The Trustee returned the payment (check) to my old address with no forwarding. They never contacted me either. I contacted the Trustee to ask what's going on and they tell me that... ooops... they were still waiting for the refund and that they couldn't contact me at my old address. This is even though the court had my updated address. Long story, short version... 3 months after my last payment I received my discharge. I am still awaiting my case to close (5 months so far).

I would wait for 1-2 weeks before I would start hounding my attorney again. I am speaking from experience on this process and it is really slow at the end. Please realize that unless your attorney is billing you, much of the time they spend dealing with this type of issue, is work they do not get paid for. We all hope for quick and simple Chapter 13 discharges and closings. I'm starting to believe that is just a perfect case. The reality is that there are almost always some sort of issues with a Chapter 13 coming to an end and sometimes even the Trustee's office makes mistakes.

I hope that puts you at ease... at least for a little while.

[ckfrey]

Hello everyone that read post and thank you justbroke for your reply. We met with another local BK attorney today (free 30 min consult). He was gracious and extended to an hour. He reviewed our account with the trustee, answered all of our questions and explained what was needed for the trustee to move forward.

So, in a bit less than an hour, we got all the answers that we have been asking our attorney for over four months. He did advise that a substitution of counsel at this time would not be of benefit since the math was all pretty cut and dry (other than he did not understand the repayment of excused months). However, the motion was poorly worded, so the trustee is probably within their right to try to collect on those payments.

Our plan is to make a lump sum payment, accompanied by an affidavit that the lump sum funds are a gift not requiring repayment from family; complete our required courses; attest that mortgage and child support are all current ....and forge ahead!

Our only concern is that our attorney, who no longer responds to any communication from us, will at least meet her obligation of getting needed course certifications and affidavits to the trustee.

Hope this helps someone!

[Carmella]

ckfrey Do you have copies of your online course certificates just in case the attorney drags her feet on that? We still have over 3 yrs to and I have copies of everything! I made sure to print them out since computers can die.

[sophieanne]

Carmella - another thing you can do is check pacer which will show if your course certificates have been filed. When our attorney received the certificates, his office automatically put them into pacer.

[Carmella]

Carmella - another thing you can do is check pacer which will show if your course certificates have been filed. When our attorney received the certificates, his office automatically put them into pacer.

Would they file the second BK course in advance? Some reason I thought they would file it when it's over!

[sophieanne]

Carmella - yes they would file it prior to discharge. As a matter of fact, our lawyer asked us to complete the first course before filing and the second shortly after filing. He felt that ensured there was no missing information at the end of the case...so both courses were signed, sealed and delivered within a month of being confirmed. And both showed up in Pacer as soon as they were filed.

[Carmella]

Same here sophieanne we did the first course before filing and then when the attorney gave us the ok we did the second one. It makes sense now, but at the time I kept wondering why all the info about budgeting, etc when a lot of the stuff they recommend we cannot do while making the 100% payback! I will have to check it out next time I go on PACER.