What has been your experience with your BK atty?

[ssdsco]

I have a great attorney after interviewing 4 attorneys armed with questions I got from this this forum including several more difficult questions I knew the answers to.

[Cassiopeia]

My attorney was nothing short of wonderful....his wife as well (she was his paralegal).

The first day I went in there for a consultation I was literally in TEARS. He made me feel at ease and was so helpful. Everything from then on right through my discharge was just perfect.

I lost my mother during the time I was in BK. My attorney also volunteers for a hospice organization (where my Mom died), so we had that in common, plus he lost his own mother just a year ago. Both he and his wife were compassionate beyond measure. They sent me a beautiful dish garden when Mom died.

My attorney gets 5 stars from me!

ETA: Ooops I see I'm in the Chapter 13 forum here with this question.....sorry! But an atty is an atty, right? Either 7 or 13. Anyway, that was my experience.

[connaire]

We also had very good results with our atty. Top notch as far as we were concerned. Very busy man.............but always got back to us within the day. We filed in Dec.03............Granted Sept. 04
Closed Dec. 07.....Discharged Jan. 08

Everything went smoothly............no glitches............but he was very forthcoming about what would be accepted and what would not.

We would recommend him to anyone in need.

[aces67]

My definitely lacked a lot! Had he been totally honest with me up front we never would have filed and our credit would still be mostly intact. He's never available when you need him and he when he finally does get back to you he always gives us the wrong answers. IT's really frustrating.

[parsoc48]

I'm just "ok" with our attorney, but I think it will work out ok in the end. There is not a quick reponse to questions or issues, and sometimes no response at all! I write all my questions out and email or fax them, I don't telephone unless it's really urgent. Most questions can wait, I just want some kind of response.
We don't qualify for a 7 and are going 13, and I think they could have been a LOT faster on that decision....they had all the information needed very early.
I find that I have to stay on top of things and keep educating myself, but there's nothing wrong with that, for sure! I gave them a deadline for filing, due to a Chase lawsuit, so it HAS to get done within the next 2 weeks.

[vleisme]

To LuvHm
I have never hired an atty for any reason and I did becuase I do not have the knowledge to file ch 13 myself. I trusted that since he is the atty and he should know what he is doing, I would not have to check his work. My atty made mistakes on the means test and the associated schedules. People in here said I should've checked his figures before he submitted the plan but then why would I hire an atty?? I know now what all the forms mean and what should be on them but when I filed I did not. I gave him all the statements and check stubs and trusted he knew how to fill out the schedules and the means test.Not all attys are bad or sloppy of course ,I know that, but it just seems the issues I am having are common among my fellow bk filers.Your atty did not go over the means test results with you yet???

[qwertysue]

To LuvHm
I trusted that since he is the atty and he should know what he is doing, I would not have to check his work. My atty made mistakes on the means test and the associated schedules. People in here said I should've checked his figures before he submitted the plan but then why would I hire an atty?? I know now what all the forms mean and what should be on them but when I filed I did not. I gave him all the statements and check stubs and trusted he knew how to fill out the schedules and the means test

I think the bottom line is that you (the filer) are the one that is signing and attesting to the truth of the forms and statements that you are submitting.

Being educated about the process and knowing what the forms mean is so important. It is your financial (the filer) life on the line.

Blindly signing is probably the worst thing that can be done.

.

[krielly]

What has been your experience with your BK atty?

Can you say "Short Attention Span Theater"

I SWEAR he has ADHD....................

[cubfan300]

This experience has made me consider going to law school and getting my JD.
My attorney leaves a lot to be desired. Overworked, undermotivated, makes lots of little mistakes and is not very well respected by the trustee.
Most of us are here, not because we are bad or stupid people, but because of poor choices or unfortunate circumstances. Through our experiences, I see a lot of comments here that if they had been uttered by my attorney, would have made me feel a lot better and I would have better prepared. I found this forum a bit too late, but I am seriously considering law school to help others who could use a friendly face and advocate.
Debtors prisons are no more and this forum helps remove the stigma of being a "BK'r"

[lrprn]

We searched hard and long for a solid Ch 13 attorney before retaining ours. First we got recommendations from a local non-bk lawyer plus interviewed five bk attorneys in our area. In the end we couldn't be happier.

Our lawyer told us upfront how to work best with him (send emails rather than phone - he gets back to us within 1-2 days) then helped us get through three objections (one from our mortgage company that was thrown out by our bk judge) and two from our trustee that ended up as case law decisions in our favor which will help other 13ers all over the country. He's been fantastic!

We are very fortunate, and also we feel good that we did our homework up front as well to ferret him out. I doubt we would have found him otherwise. He doesn't advertise in the yellow pages and his office isn't fancy. He comes to the office in a sweatshirt and athletic shoes (but always a neatly tailored suit in court). He's an excellent lawyer who has earned the respect of his lawyer peers over the years and our bankruptcy judge who told us after one of our objection hearings that we couldn't have chosen a better lawyer to handle our case. Doesn't get better than that.

[millerc507]

Our first attorney was completely inept and ultimately cost us $15000 more due to his poor advice. In addition, his advice resulted in an adversarial proceeding being filed against both us and my father. The 2nd atty., when we fired the 1st, was much better but rather arrogant. He was also a trustee and I guess if you know your stuff it gives you a slight pass to arrogance.
My dad is an attorney in another part of the state. We are actually filing a malpractice suit against our 1st attorney.

[Flamingo]

I've worked with and for attorneys most of my career. Attorneys are just like any other profession (doctors, teachers, dentist, etc., etc.). Just like all the neighbors on your street are different, so are attorneys. I've worked with good ones and bad ones and ones that would put in long hours on just one client to ensure that client was taken care of. You select an attorney by their track record, just as you would a doctor. Experience and good reputation top all and their character and conduct in the community should be checked. Most people contemplatating filing bankrtupcy are so emotionally wraught that they can't think straight and go to the first giant ad in the phone book or the first one they see on TV and then complain about the service they get. Always do some homework when contemplating any legal move that involves something major as a bankruptcy or lawsuit. If you are confused as to what to do your State Bar Assoc. can provide you with lots of information on attorneys that are members of the Bar in your state and can tell you who ranks highest in their areas of expertise.

[Pumpkin729]

Old law here, at payment 43 of 60.

What do you do when your lawyer doesn't call you back???

In mid Feb I called him asking for a pay off figure. Over two weeks later I received one in the mail. I called him because I had a few questions. I wanted to make sure that once I paid off the balance (bk 69% pay back) that the trustee wasn't going to take that money and tell us to continue to pay until we reached the 100%, lawyer said I will call and make sure if thats what you want, I told him please do. Well, over 3 weeks ago and 3 phones to his office and he hasn't called us back yet. What am I do??

[wayne-o]

I also looked at the court schedule I didnt go with the ones that had the most, didnt really want a bankruptcy mill. I went with one that had a few 3 or 4 each week. I made appointment, he was a one man show with a paralegal and a law student. The paralegal made sure I understood the process and I met with the attorney for the initial conultation. He was very patient, explaining why I needed to do a 13 etc. etc. He did not pressure one way or another. He sent me notifications about my court hearings etc. etc. and was fine answering any questions. I was lucky that I only needed to ask him one question during the process so we really didnt have the problem of not returning calls.

My attorney retired when I had a year to go, he sent me a letter with a new phone # and said to contact him if the need arose. He could've passed me off to another attorney, but said that he told me he represented throughout the plan and wanted to keep his word.

Another suggestion some questions can be answered by the trustees office. They cant give legal advice like should you do this or that, but they can answer procedural questions like how a process works. The people in my trustee's office were always nice and professional. I called asking how things would be wrapped up torward the end (refund) they explained and actually congratulated me on making it through successfully.

[shadowb]

I am really wondering about our attorneys. Our attorneys work together it seems on cases. My husband works full-time and I work part-time. I carry the benefits for our family as I work for a hospital. On the day we filed I made it quite clear to our attorneys that it was absolutely necessary for me to have enough in my paycheck to cover my deductions, so it was agreed that X would come from my check and Y (bigger amount to cover difference) from my husband's. That was working great. A few weeks to a month letter, we received a letter from the trustee stating that she wanted to tilt the scales, increasing the amount from my check. After benefits I was left with $29 and some change. Wow. I thought a certain amount was required by law to be left remaining in a person's check. This notification came as a complete surprise, with no warning from my attorneys. When I called their office, got the secretary who as usual said they were unavailable. Now, granted they did call back. When I mentioned what happened to my check and this new increase my attorney was nonchalant and went on about how she didn't have insurance and how I should not worry about my paycheck, etc., etc. I mentioned to her that my paycheck was unique in that I make hourly pay scale and production. When I work I make more but should I have to take hourly due to myself or children being ill, paycheck would be less, she didn't care. Finally last week I get notification again totally by surprise, no heads up from attorney regarding an increase of huge amounts on my paycheck. Half my benefits weren't paid and are in jeopardy of being cancelled. My attorneys have had since January to correct the first increase and now with this..well, it has become a huge mess and my paycheks are zero right now. My employer ironically was more helpful than my attorney. They (employer) researched the laws on payroll deduction and discovered that the law states that if money in paycheck is not available, then the trustee has to pay the premiums instead to avoid cancellation. They also learned that 401K deductions are exempt. They took a step further and contacted the trustee stating that legally if she didn't change the increase then she would have to pay the premiums or change my plan payment to allow me to have disposable income to pay the premiums. Wow! My attorneys have known about this issue for almost four months and did nothing.

I guess in summary, if we would have taken the time to research we would have. I have faxed important documents to our attorney (income tax returns, bank statements), which they will say they misplaced them or didn't receive. They also will say they never got things from the trustee when they are a cc on that item. They are also notorious for mostly not returning phone calls. At this point we can't afford to retain another one.