I feel like I am a guinea pig....my lawyer is not good!

[HARLEEBB]

Hi,

By the time I realized that I didn't pick the best lawyer, it was too late for me to change. He has made mistake after mistake after mistake with the filing paperwork. I logged onto Pacer this morning and yet another one. Our original payment plan was denied at the 341 because he had a bunch of mistakes and had listed amounts that were basically laughed at. My payment was increased by 250.00 per month and he was told to refile the paperwork with the updated information. Fine, I'll pay what I owe and I am ok with paying this money back but I just want to move on now.

Now, he files the amended plan for the new amount and he had more mistakes so....the trustee won't confirm the plan.

I am sooooooooo angry. I just want to move along and not keep getting these notices that something wasn't done correctly. This guy is a bimbo and really, I am his guinea pig. I think he just started doing bankruptcies and I didn't know this. If he had answered me honestly when I asked him if he had experience with this I wouldn't have hired him. It's too late now and I am feeling deflated. I guess I have no one to blame but myself...for not knowing how to choose the correct lawyer.

Thanks for listening......I'm just upset this morning. AGAIN. I could have done a better job at this.

Lee

[EricaCallaha]

You can change attorneys. It is not easy, but you can file a motion with the trustee to do so. Have you already paid this person in full? You could try to interview a couple of other attorneys through their free consultation to see if you could find another.

It really sucks for you that this process has been made much more difficult because of a really dumb attorney.

Feel for you and good luck.

[justbroke]

Not that I encourage just bouncing from attorney to attorney, but you can also have his fees disgorged if he didn't represent your properly.

[HARLEEBB]

I've already paid him in full. If I switch attornies wouldn't I have to pay again?

Thanks
Lee

[HHM]

Let's back up for a second, while I have no doubt that there are bad attorneys...

You provided the numbers to your attorney, didn't you? And didn't you review the petition before you signed off?

In any event, this sounds like only minor issues. First, you must realize it is the job of the trustee to object to the plan. They will object to "nearly every" plan in some way; so that, in itself, is not a sign of a bad attorney. In this context, a bad attorney emerges in two ways.
1. He didn't tell you that certain of your expenses were going to be objected too, or
2. If he feels the expense is legimate, but doesn't fight for it.
But the fact that there was an objection is neither good or bad.

A chatper 13 plan payment is largely based on your income and expenses (schedules I & J) and those numbers come from the DEBTOR (i.e. YOU), they are supposed to reflect what you actually spend. What your attorney should be doing is help you identify lost expenses (unfortunately, most people who end up in chapter 13 don't fully know what they spend their money on); and to determine if your "current" budget is adequate. For example, if you are family of 4 and only spending $400 per month on groceries, the attorney should suggest upping that to a more realistic $600 per month to make your chapter 13 plan feasible.

A chapter 13 is more like a negotiation, the chapter 13 plan that gets filed is your opening position and the trustees objections is his; the plan that will be confirmed emerges somewhere in the middle.

[Flamingo]

Hi,

By the time I realized that I didn't pick the best lawyer, it was too late for me to change. He has made mistake after mistake after mistake with the filing paperwork. I logged onto Pacer this morning and yet another one. Our original payment plan was denied at the 341 because he had a bunch of mistakes and had listed amounts that were basically laughed at. My payment was increased by 250.00 per month and he was told to refile the paperwork with the updated information. Fine, I'll pay what I owe and I am ok with paying this money back but I just want to move on now.

Now, he files the amended plan for the new amount and he had more mistakes so....the trustee won't confirm the plan.

I am sooooooooo angry. I just want to move along and not keep getting these notices that something wasn't done correctly. This guy is a bimbo and really, I am his guinea pig. I think he just started doing bankruptcies and I didn't know this. If he had answered me honestly when I asked him if he had experience with this I wouldn't have hired him. It's too late now and I am feeling deflated. I guess I have no one to blame but myself...for not knowing how to choose the correct lawyer.

Thanks for listening......I'm just upset this morning. AGAIN. I could have done a better job at this.

Lee

Harleebb - I agree with HHM - those "mistakes" you are mentioning are amounts that were originally submitted for you on your behalf to hopefully get your plan through with an amount you can survive on (i.e., HHM's family of four scenario). The Trustee probably objected to some of these maybe being too high and wanted to see a modified plan and apparently the modified plan didn't fly with the trustee either as to the amounts. I think the only thing your attorney is guilty of is not explaining this all better to you. The same thing could have occurred if you utilized another attorney and/or the situation could be that you just have a hard trustee.

Did you research your attorney prior to retaining him? How long has he been practicing and in what area(s)? Did you ask him that on retention, see documentson his office wall? These are things most people do when retaining a professional unless they personally know the individual or have family/friends that provide a good referral from utilizing the professional's service previously. What you need to do is have your attorney explain this process to you as to the "mistakes" and you will probably see he is trying to negotiate things in your favor so you can successfully complete your Plan with some extra available cash.