In need of assistance

[tphburg]

So I received a notification in the mail today from the bk court that my lawyer is no longer practicing law and has left PA. I have been ordered to appear at a status conference.

A few issues and questions here. Obviously the first is has anyone seen this, will I incur more fees from lawyers as they were not included in my original plan?

Next, my previous lawyer had informed me that the trustee was allowing debtors to make prepayments on chapter 13 even for those plans that were not 100%. I did this in June and paid the full amount and have not received notice of discharge. I contacted this lawyer in October and asked for status and he stated that the trustee was waiting for checks to clear. Is this a serious issue? Is anyone familiar with BK Law in Harrisburg, PA?

Thanks

[momofthree]

What does pacer say? What does the trustee website say? Do they show receiving the payoff money? How long ago did you file?

[tphburg]

The trustee shows receiving the money. I am just now registering for Pacer to look. I filed in Spring of 2008

[justbroke]

Next, my previous lawyer had informed me that the trustee was allowing debtors to make prepayments on chapter 13 even for those plans that were not 100%. I did this in June and paid the full amount and have not received notice of discharge. I contacted this lawyer in October and asked for status and he stated that the trustee was waiting for checks to clear. Is this a serious issue? Is anyone familiar with BK Law in Harrisburg, PA?

Not familiar with PA, but I hope your attorney was correct before you made that full payment! Most Districts, and this would be the FIRST that I have heard allowing it, do not allow early pre-payment of a Chapter 13 unless it's for 100% if the case was confirmed after October 15, 2005. This was due to the so-called BAPCPA amendments.

You may want to contact the Trustee. I hope that your attorney didn't give you bad advice.

If you use 13DataCenter or 13Network, you should check what the status reads on that site. If it reads "CONFIRMED" and not "ABOUT TO CLOSE", this is probably an issue!

[tphburg]

just registered for 13datacenter, it says "closed completed." also had a date case closed in july. i have not received discharge paperwork and i have received this "status conference" notice

[despritfreya]

If your attorney has abruptly stopped practicing (without prior notice to you) one of three things has happened:

1. He was disbarred or placed on suspension.
2. He has taken seriously ill and cannot communicate with his clients.
3. He has been sanctioned by the bk court for some reason - usually this happens if the attny has a history of screwing up his clients' cases.

The first thing you need to do is call him (even if the bk ct says he has left town) to see if you can find out what happened. If you get no response call the State Bar. If he took ill the State Bar may have a referral program. Many years ago I took over a number of cases at the request of my State Bar when fellow bk attny passed away.

If all else fails attend the status hearing and tell the court you are attempting to find another attorney (if that is what you want to do).

Des.