Hi. This is a guy I researched intensely and checked out on Pacer too. Uugh! There are several things that really made me boiling mad while there.
So he hands me the some 40+ papers and is having me sign here and there and at one point he says ok here we have your social security number etc and I said whoa, this is NOT my s.s number! He said it's not and I said no and I whipped out my card and he said oh, I'm sorry about that and he went back to the woman who typed it out and had her change my number through out the matrix. I am sure the person who really owns that number would love to see a BK listing on their credit report.
Ok so then we get to the schedule that says how many people are in our household and it says 6. I said there are only 5 people in our house, not 6 and he looked mad and said WTH is wrong with my secretary and I thought yes WTH is wrong with her since she had 3 weeks to type these papers! So then they had to change that along with the means test number for our state for our family size. The attorney was embarrassed at this point. He wanted me to know though and showed me on his legal pad that he had written my correct social and correct family size and that is was HER fault. Well then fire her if this is the best she can do.
Then (yes there is more ) I notice on one of the schedules where it asks if you have closed any financial accounts in the last year and he had none listed. Uh, I have closed 2 since October and he knows this. One was closed due to identity theft and one closed due to when I decided to file BK I wanted my name off of our joint account. He had neither of those accounts listed! I said uh, you have my bank statements right here in your file that I gave you showing you that I closed both of them, isn't it necessary to list them and he shook his head and said no. WTF?
Then the biggest thing that ticked me off he said you know your refund is $7300 and your exemption is only $2500 and he looked at me and I just stared at him. I said to him very slowly and very pointedly, he knew I was pissed. I said you told me that in this district the trustee does not take the 1/2 of the refund of the nonfiling spouse and that is $3500 and he said oh yea, that's right yes that is right, but there is still $1100 left over and I said and you ALSO told me that that amount was able to be used for your fee and the filing fee. He said yes, that is right, ok I guess we are done then.
I just looked at him like WTF. I didn't stand up when he did and I said you told me 3 weeks ago I could use this money and I have. I've paid the drywall guy, Ive spent $1200 on pellets for our stove, Ive gotten a years worth of contacts, paid $250 down on our increased escrow because it went up due to an increased assessment and I rattled off a bunch of other stuff to him. I then said are you now telling me I shouldn't have done that? And he said no you will be fine. mellow.gif Get this, he didn't even list my refund on the matrix! Can you believe that? He left it off and is just showing my tax return and the prior year's one to the trustee along with my papers. Even if the refund is received and spent doesn't it have to be somewhere on the schedule? Because I've looked at every page and there is NO mention of it.
This guy is a partner in an upper scale law firm of 3 lawyers, and he's a justice in a local community. I don't know if he is straight up wishy washy or momentarily forgetful about being able to split the refund in half with the nonfiling spouse. I asked him if he has split refunds before between filers and nonfilers and he said yes and that our trustee is not aggressive.
I guess I will get my answers come my 341 in the first week of April.
So he hands me the some 40+ papers and is having me sign here and there and at one point he says ok here we have your social security number etc and I said whoa, this is NOT my s.s number! He said it's not and I said no and I whipped out my card and he said oh, I'm sorry about that and he went back to the woman who typed it out and had her change my number through out the matrix. I am sure the person who really owns that number would love to see a BK listing on their credit report.
Ok so then we get to the schedule that says how many people are in our household and it says 6. I said there are only 5 people in our house, not 6 and he looked mad and said WTH is wrong with my secretary and I thought yes WTH is wrong with her since she had 3 weeks to type these papers! So then they had to change that along with the means test number for our state for our family size. The attorney was embarrassed at this point. He wanted me to know though and showed me on his legal pad that he had written my correct social and correct family size and that is was HER fault. Well then fire her if this is the best she can do.
Then (yes there is more
) I notice on one of the schedules where it asks if you have closed any financial accounts in the last year and he had none listed. Uh, I have closed 2 since October and he knows this. One was closed due to identity theft and one closed due to when I decided to file BK I wanted my name off of our joint account. He had neither of those accounts listed! I said uh, you have my bank statements right here in your file that I gave you showing you that I closed both of them, isn't it necessary to list them and he shook his head and said no. WTF?Then the biggest thing that ticked me off he said you know your refund is $7300 and your exemption is only $2500 and he looked at me and I just stared at him. I said to him very slowly and very pointedly, he knew I was pissed. I said you told me that in this district the trustee does not take the 1/2 of the refund of the nonfiling spouse and that is $3500 and he said oh yea, that's right yes that is right, but there is still $1100 left over and I said and you ALSO told me that that amount was able to be used for your fee and the filing fee. He said yes, that is right, ok I guess we are done then.
I just looked at him like WTF. I didn't stand up when he did and I said you told me 3 weeks ago I could use this money and I have. I've paid the drywall guy, Ive spent $1200 on pellets for our stove, Ive gotten a years worth of contacts, paid $250 down on our increased escrow because it went up due to an increased assessment and I rattled off a bunch of other stuff to him. I then said are you now telling me I shouldn't have done that? And he said no you will be fine. mellow.gif Get this, he didn't even list my refund on the matrix! Can you believe that? He left it off and is just showing my tax return and the prior year's one to the trustee along with my papers. Even if the refund is received and spent doesn't it have to be somewhere on the schedule? Because I've looked at every page and there is NO mention of it.
This guy is a partner in an upper scale law firm of 3 lawyers, and he's a justice in a local community. I don't know if he is straight up wishy washy or momentarily forgetful about being able to split the refund in half with the nonfiling spouse. I asked him if he has split refunds before between filers and nonfilers and he said yes and that our trustee is not aggressive.
I guess I will get my answers come my 341 in the first week of April.
) but I think you are incredibly fortunate to have an atty who walked through your papers with you in detail and allowed you to correct these things pre-341. It's hard when it's your life on the line, but he at least sounds as though he personally is honest; if he weren't, he would have blown you off and the changes would never have been made at all. If you read the atty horror stories around here, you may actually start to feel kind of grateful.
Comment