Help, my attorney screwed up my case!

[cosmicmama]

I turned in my $2000 and all paperwork to my attorney at the first of November, and they (he and his paralegal, who is also his wife), kept stalling until we had to rush to file 13 by the end of the year. When we went in for signing, they basically handed us all the paperwork to sign with no explanation, no counseling, nothing. Over the two months that they were "working on" our papers, every time I called the paralegal with a question or change in status on something, she either didn't know the answer, or brushed me off. On the final paperwork, I found several errors and she got defensive that I was asking questions about it. We were in their office with them trying to fix the paperwork until 6 pm that evening (December 30th), and when she gave me the "corrected" papers, it still looked screwy and she had my plan payment at some astronomical figure that I'll never be able to afford ($2800). They told me "it's ok, when the creditors make their claims that amount will be different anyway." We signed the papers, I was so angry I was in tears, and we were rushed. They didn't tell me my first plan payment was due January 1st! I didn't know until I got the initial letter from my trustee TODAY! And I don't have $2800. My income is way down from what my BK filing says because I have two tenants who aren't paying their rent too.

We already have an appointment with another attorney to try and fix this mess. Is it correct that my only option here is to ask to have my case dismissed and start over with a new attorney? Do I have any recourse with my old one, getting my money back, reporting him to the bar, etc? Any insight or advice on this situation? Thank you so much.

[cosmicmama]

I also wanted to say that I pass the means test. I opted for 13 because I owe a lot of taxes (which heck, I can set up a payment plan with the state for much less than my BK payment plan states), and I own rental properties. I am open to converting to a 7 at this point though, I am so desperate just to get this behind me and get this debt off my back.

[catleg]

You have 30 days to make the first plan payment.

Sounds like you'll just need to file an amended plan.

All is not lost, but the lawyer doesn't sound like he was a good choice, nevertheless, you're probably stuck with him for a little while.

[cosmicmama]

How do I file an amended plan? What about fixing our income on our filing (they have our income way more than it really is).

[catleg]

You just file a new plan and new schedules. It's the same paperwork essentially just considered "amended" because it's not the first time. Lean on the husband and wife legal team to fix it right this time, and make them print the whole thing out and let you read it before you sign. You may need to move your 341 meeting back also. They can do this for you as well. Just don't wait too long. (But remember this tends to be a long slow process, so don't panic either.)

Remember the absolute worst case if you can't work with these lawyers is that you don't make the payments and the case is dismissed. You always have the right to quit and say no with a chapter 13. You would just have to spend another lawyer fee and filing fee to do a chapter 7 (or another 13) next time around. The only issue you'd have is that you might have creditors come after you in the meantime, but unless they're really hot on your trail it's probably not a big issue.

From re-reading your original post it really sounds like they don't do many chapter 13's.