Please Help

[mia111]

Hello,
my husband and I have been in Chapter 13 almost 2years
we have never missed a payment
and we filed to save our house,but with a strike and one income our home is about to be in foreclosere and we have already moved out.because the bank won the relief from stay.
Should we switch to chapter 7 or continue to pay our plan which we barley can afford,and if we switch to Chapter 7 what will happen to the house
thanks so much to all


p.s our lawyer is paid and doesn't care about us anymore in fact we haven't heard from him in a year and a half,so we will have to go to another lawyer to switch

[Flamingo]

When you retained the attorney to file your Chapter 13, you paid him to represent you through the entire Plan. You need to contact him immediately. You normally would not hear from your attorney during a Chapter 13 unless he was responding to a question you had or he had information from the Trustee to pass on to you. It's not cause he doesn't care. Your Plan sounded normal until the job loss hit. As soon as the loss of income hit, you should have been in contact with him immediately.

[Cali]

I agree with Flamingo you need to contact your attorney asap.

[mia111]

I did contact him and he never responded! we called,emailed and wrote
so no he doesn't care!!!

[epiphany]

I did contact him and he never responded! we called,emailed and wrote
so no he doesn't care!!!

You need to go park yourself on his receptionist (yes, sit on her) until he speaks to you. Make him care. This is YOUR life.

ep

[mia111]

did that too, and he went out the back door, I rather go to someone else to switch then pay him again and deal with him again

[jwbbx]

Flamingo,

I beg to disagree, and I would hope someone like HHM would chime in, but the initial fee paid for a chapter 13 does not include all contingencies down the line for no additional fee. Yes, one would hope that you could get the same representation, but don't give the impression that the initial fee is inclusive of any situation. The BK mills are interested in NEW cases and NEW money, not continuing revenue. The OP should expect to have to pay for additional services.

Besides that, how do we know enough about the retainer agreement signed by the OP to give such a blanket response?

I am repulsed by many of the BK Mill TV advertising attorneys - may they rot, but this type of "We've done our part" retainer agreement would not surprise me.


To MIA111, just out of curiosity, do the initials AAM mean anything to you? I have a lot of friends here who are coming out of a looooong strike.

Michigan is blessed with leading the rest of the country in recession. We know hurt the rest of them haven't begun to imagine yet....

((sorry, sometimes I get so down....))

[Flamingo]

Flamingo,

I beg to disagree, and I would hope someone like HHM would chime in, but the initial fee paid for a chapter 13 does not include all contingencies down the line for no additional fee. Yes, one would hope that you could get the same representation, but don't give the impression that the initial fee is inclusive of any situation. The OP should expect to have to pay for additional services. Besides that, how do we know enough about the retainer agreement signed by the OP to give such a blanket response?
I am repulsed by many of the BK Mill TV advertising attorneys - may they rot, but this type of "We've done our part" retainer agreement would not surprise me. (snip)
((sorry, sometimes I get so down....))

I stated in my posting "When you retained the attorney to file your Chapter 13, you paid him to represent you through the entire Plan." That is true; however, I did not mention anything about additional work nor gave the impression of additional work; I responded directly to the OP for her situation at the moment; I don't recall her asking if a Motion needed to be filed or additional work done; if more work is to be undertaken; i.e., plan conversion, motion filing, etc., there are always additional fees for that work and that is discussed and agreed to between the parties prior to the work being done; but your retainer and fee at the initial outset retains your attorney for his/her representation throughout your entire plan. He/she represents you from date of retention to date of discharge. Try to get out of your attorney's representation during that period of time.

While I admire you taking things a step beyond to get your point across, the OP at the moment was not doing anything "additional" in her Plan and should consult/get ahold of her attorney; he represents her and needs to advise her.

[Flamingo]

I did contact him and he never responded! we called,emailed and wrote
so no he doesn't care!!!

There is more to this than meets the eye. When did you try to contact him last and how often? When you first lost the income? More recently? Did you have a disagreement with him or other problems with your Plan? Your attorney should not be avoiding you; if you have a genuine complaint as to how he is handling your case and feel you are not being represented correctly, call your State Bar Association and speak with someone there about the situation as to what you can do. While I work for and with attorneys I am not afraid to go barging in and stating my mind cause I am used to them; I understand your hesitancy but you need to march yourself in there and state that you are going to contact the State Bar Association and file a Complaint if he doesn't advise you what to do as to your situation.

[danaf]

I say go find another lawyer since yours is avoiding you. Your situation has changed, you've moved out of your home which is being foreclosed on - and you probably qualify for a 7 now. Do the math yourselves to be sure.

In the meantime, before you sign on with another lawyer for a 7, send your attorney one more email - stating your situation and that you've tried contacting him many times (state when, where, how) and you don't understand why he is avoiding you. Tell him you will file a complaint with the bar association if he doesn't contact you back within 24 hrs. Do this first so you have proof when you do file a complaint with the bar. Chances are, if he's avoiding you now, he still won't call you back after a threat of a complaint with the bar.

This is your life. You need to do what is in your best interest. If you've got a lawyer who isn't responding to you - screw him. Do what you have to do to take care of yourself. Why should you continue paying on a 13 plan where the house was included in that plan when you aren't in the home anymore? I'm not a 13 guru - just giving my 2 cents here. Good luck.

[mia111]

Thanks so much Danaf your advice is very helpful and so true

[Flamingo]

Another thing you might want to do is contact the Clerk of your bankruptcy court and advise them of what is going on as to your case and they may be able to advise you what you will have to do to remove the attorney from your case. It's not going to be easy because there will probably be a full review of the entire situation and a new attorney will not take over your old matter. The Trustee will definately be interested in this and you can bet if he contacts your attorney, your attorney will probably be in contact with you.