Not sure what to do...

[toomuchforme]

I posted a few days ago some problems I was having and I have a few more if anyone can help.

I am not very familiar with the bankruptcy laws and I don't know where to go or who to call for more information so if anyone can tell me where to go from here I would appreciate it.

Our attorney is horrible at returning calls and taking care of things in a timely matter. Currently we are on week 3 of not receiving a return call and I have called daily and ever other day faxed or emailed him. Everytime I am told he should contact us the next day. He doesn't.

Also he signed and order and agreed to a date to have our plan caught up with out speaking to myself or my husband and he knows the date is not possible. Also the judge ordered that a date was not put on it since we are using our income tax refund. In fact the judges exact words were "I don't want to put a date on this because no one can control the IRS".

In the meantime since I have had problems over the past year with our attorney (not returning our calls for weeks) I have tried to find another attorney in the area but they all say they won't go against this firm because they are the biggest one in our area.

Again, I don't know the laws but I would think that our attorney does NOT have our best interest in mind and there should be something we can do.

If anyone has any suggestions or would know where I can go for help it would be greatly appreciated.

[Flamingo]

I was a bit confused reading your post so I had to go back and view your previous postings under another subject. I am assuming you have been in Chapter 13 for about a year and are behind in Plan or other payments? There are things that your attorney handles during your Plan to get things done for you that you may or may not be aware of. I am assuming you are trying to find out what is going on as to when the catch up funds are due on your Plan and that there is an Order in place allowing your tax refund to make up the past payment(s). Also, an attorney cannot overrule a Judge's Order if the Judge stated that the date be left open. I am a bit confused as to some of the things you post as to that situation.

Does your attorney have a paralegal or assistant who can update you on your case if he is not available? Has your attorney been grossly negligent as to your case (many mistakes, missing filing times, etc., etc.)? I am assuming you have an extremely busy attorney who has your matter under control and will contact you when you are needed to be contacted. It sounds like you have a complicated Chapter 13 with various issues which may be a bit more complicated than a normal Chapter 13 but he still should keep you informed or at least have his assistant or paralegal contact you to rest your fears.

To solve this situation, know that attorneys are extremely busy (I know, I work in a law firm) and do their best to get back to clients as/when needed. Legal wheels grind slowly. However, there are bad or overwhelmed attorneys who either do too much or don't do anything at all. I don't know if your attorney falls in that segment but I have a suggestion for you if you want to call tomorrow (Monday). Find out if your attorney has a paralegal and contact him/her directly. If he does not, get his assistant on the phone. Say you have been calling and calling and would like to have the answer/update you need as to your case so you know what you need to do or what needs to be done. State there are deadlines and you need answers. If you need a copy of something, tell them to make it and you will stop by in a few hours and pick it up. Advise them you have been waiting 3 weeks for a response and if you do not get one, you will call your State's Bar Association and report the attorney's non-responsiveness to your phone calls to them. If anything will get them moving, that will.

Best of luck to you and I hope things come together for you real soon...hang in there!

[toomuchforme]

Thank you for the information but I have spoken to his assistant and paralegal and they both tell me I have to speak with him directly and he will call the next day. I have been getting this response for 3 weeks now. He has been negligent in filing things we almost lost our car because he forgot to file something and I had to call the company and work it out with them. Thank godness they were willing to work with us.

I understand he is busy but I feel that when I call and it takes over 2 weeks every time to return my call or he doesn't call at all that he isn't taking care of us.

To explain the ruling the judge said that he wanted us to use my husband's year end bonus and our tax return to get caught up he put the date of March 31st for the bonus but said I will not put a date on the tax return because no one can control the IRS. We were supposed to have a meeting last week because the attorney for the mortgage company thought we had 6 mortgages and we only have 1 but the company we were originally with was bought out 5 times over the last 3 years and 3 of them were last year. Since they were still on the deed we had to prove to him what had happened. Our attorney final was able to get the mortgage companies attorney the information for him to accept that we only had 1 mortgage. They then signed and agreement stating we had to pay the tax refund by April 30th or we would be in default and there are no objections to be filed and the automatic stay will be lifted. We weren't able to file until last week because we couldn't get our mortgage interest statement from the mortgage company and we are getting a check so chances are it won't be here in time.

I called and emailed our attorney Thursday and Friday after I received his email and again he won't respond.

So from what we can read it looks like we have to be caught up by April 30th or they will foreclose on our home. I don't understand how our attorney could do all of this.

I am still open to any suggestions. I just don't know where to turn or who to call.

[toomuchforme]

I don't know the rules on this but can you get a temporary loan while you are in bankruptcy?

[lrprn]

I am still open to any suggestions. I just don't know where to turn or who to call.

Sounds like you've been more than patient enough if you've been calling/emailing daily for a month and still not getting calls or emails back.

When you call your lawyer's office tomorrow, tell them politely that if you don't receive a call back from your lawyer within two days, you are contacting the attorney general in your state and reporting your lawyer for misrepresentation and possible misconduct in the practice of law. If you don't hear from your lawyer, then follow through.

Here's who to report lawyer misconduct to in each state - http://www.nbtanet.org/public/discipline/index.shtml

I don't recommend this lightly. However, in your case with the many broken promises despite your best efforts to communicate openly, it's time to take it to the next level.

[toomuchforme]

Sounds like you've been more than patient enough if you've been calling/emailing daily for a month and still not getting calls or emails back.

When you call your lawyer's office tomorrow, tell them politely that if you don't receive a call back from your lawyer within two days, you are contacting the attorney general in your state and reporting your lawyer for misrepresentation and possible misconduct in the practice of law. If you don't hear from your lawyer, then follow through.

Here's who to report lawyer misconduct to in each state - http://www.nbtanet.org/public/discipline/index.shtml

I don't recommend this lightly. However, in your case with the many broken promises despite your best efforts to communicate openly, it's time to take it to the next level.

Thank you very much. How do I go about getting a new attorney once I contact them? Also can a new attorney have the order changed?

Sorry for so many questions but we are completely stressed out about this.

Thank you again.

[toomuchforme]

I did call my attorney's office and once again I asked for his assitant and/or the paralegal. I received the paraglegal and she said I will have to talk to my attorney regarding this matter. She doesn't have an answer. I explained I have been calling and emailing for weeks now she said I will give him the message.

I did let her know if I did NOT hear from him by the end of the business day tomorrow I would be contacting the attorney general's office.

Should I be looking for a new attorney in the mean time and does anyone have any suggestions?

[woeisme]

I don't think any other attorney will take you until you have actually fired this attorney and are without representation. So you have that hard decisiont to make with the April 30 deadline looming. Also, other lawyers are reticent about taking clients who have fired their attorneys because they know that either the client is unreasonably demanding (not your case, but can happen) or that the other lawyer was screwing things up so much that it will probably require quite a bit of work to get up to speed on the issues with the case and to fix all the screw-ups by the first lawyer. So I don't really have any advice about how to get another lawyer to take your case, just to explain why none of the other lawyers you have contacted are willing to work with you right now. Also, you would need to be able to pay them outside the plan since you are already confirmed and can't typically add new debt, so they would probably want a retainer up front. Sorry they are so screwed up, I'd be ripping my hair out if they did that to me!

[toomuchforme]

Woeisme. Thank you. Currently I have 2 bleeding ulcers from all the stress and I don't know why my attorney is doing this. If I had to pay someone outside of the plan we would do it so we can save our home. We have been here for 8 years now and have done alot of work to it. We have $70,000 worth of equity in our home.

Does anyone know can I call the judge and speak to him? The only reason I ask is because he is the one that ruled not to put a date on the tax return and then our attorney went and had this order signed. Again I don't know the rules and I really don't know who to call or ask.

Thanks again to everyone that had helped. Any input is better than none.

[Flamingo]

Woeisme. Thank you. Currently I have 2 bleeding ulcers from all the stress and I don't know why my attorney is doing this. If I had to pay someone outside of the plan we would do it so we can save our home. We have been here for 8 years now and have done alot of work to it. We have $70,000 worth of equity in our home.

Does anyone know can I call the judge and speak to him? The only reason I ask is because he is the one that ruled not to put a date on the tax return and then our attorney went and had this order signed. Again I don't know the rules and I really don't know who to call or ask.

Thanks again to everyone that had helped. Any input is better than none.

When you retained your attorney, you retained him to represent you. The Judge will not work/speak with you directly. Your case is really complex and confusing and it appears there are issues not only with your attorney but other agencies and people involved. If you cannot get through to your attorney and really need informaton and/or updates as to your case, you always have the right to report him, fire him and look for another attorney. That is up to you. If you report him, they are going to want all the details from you and from him as to what has transpired for you to end up reporiting the situation so be prepared for that. Also you will have a lot of footwork to do if you fire him so you may want to investigate with the Clerk of Court of the BK Court in which you filed what would need to be done as to where your case stands now.

A lot is up to you so best of luck in your decision.

[toomuchforme]

When you retained your attorney, you retained him to represent you. The Judge will not work/speak with you directly. Your case is really complex and confusing and it appears there are issues not only with your attorney but other agencies and people involved. If you cannot get through to your attorney and really need informaton and/or updates as to your case, you always have the right to report him, fire him and look for another attorney. That is up to you. If you report him, they are going to want all the details from you and from him as to what has transpired for you to end up reporiting the situation so be prepared for that. Also you will have a lot of footwork to do if you fire him so you may want to investigate with the Clerk of Court of the BK Court in which you filed what would need to be done as to where your case stands now.

A lot is up to you so best of luck in your decision.

Thank you. I will call the clerk and then see how I can get another attorney.

Thank you again very much.

[toomuchforme]

Where do I go from here?

Ok well to add to my other posts. I called my attorney's office on Monday and let them know if I didn't hear from him in 2 days I would call the attorney general's office.

I then today gave it another attempt and asked to set up a meeting with him. They said he doesn't do that and they will let him know I called. I also sent him and email yesterday and today.

Has anyone else fired their attorney and reported them and do you have any suggestions?

Thank you in advance all and any help is appreciated.

[krielly]

You should add this to your other post. It's hard to follow someone's story when it jumps from one thread to the other.

thanks!

PS: I hope you hear from your attorney soon!

[toomuchforme]

You should add this to your other post. It's hard to follow someone's story when it jumps from one thread to the other.

thanks!

PS: I hope you hear from your attorney soon!

Sorry I didn't realize that. Do you know how to add it? Or should I just copy and paste.

[Flamingo]

Folks in your other similar thread gave you some excellent suggestions as to what to do. If you are still at a total loss as to what to do, call your State Bar Association and explain the situation to someone. They can certainly give you contacts or advise as it may pertain your your state laws. You do need to know that sometimes the attorney is waiting to hear from the Trustee or someone else as to further information as to your case and that may be preventing him from contacting you until he has all that information. Your case is a bit complicated and apparently requires a bit extra work but still the attorney should give you a courtesy call or email or have his assistant contact you as to what is going on or what you need to do further.