Annoyed with Attorney

[TEW]

Attorney's don't schedule the 341's, the court clerk does. If a 341 needs to be rescheduled, the court clerk merely assigns the next available slot for the trustee in question.

[Flamingo]

Ahh... that's why I present both sides of the issue. I don't take sides. I give equal opportunity when there are no facts to support either side.

Now the Attorney may not have the choice to schedule it, but they certainly can call the Trustee and "move" it due to scheduling problems. Hence, I don't know if it was the Attorney's scheduling problem, or the Trustee's scheduling problem.

In the end, it was an inconvenience to the Debtor.

As HHM stated, and which I previously mentioned further back in this thread, the Court sets the docket. If the attorney was given two 341's at different locations, that is not the attorney's fault so he has to juggle his schedule to accomodate the Court. Unfortunately, those on the receiving end who don't know or are not familiar the dealings of the situation take it personally (it's not like the attorney had to attend his/her son's soccer game). The attorney has to go by the Court's schedule to have his/her client's case seen not vice versa. The BK court would not reschedule if one could not obtain child care or get off work - that's not their problem. That's just the way it is in the legal and business world - cut and dry, no one cares if you can't make Tommy's school play. I feel for the OP and undertand her situation as to having kids or organizing personal schedules (and the additional financial cost) and I am sure her attorney is as frustrated as she is cause he has to rearrange his entire schedule also and contact her about it.

[patkatmom]

I've calmed down a bit. I guess I was just upset because after reading on here for the past 6 months, I don't remember anyone having their hearing date changed twice.

Thanks for all the explanations and responses!

[epiphany]

Attorney's don't schedule the 341's, the court clerk does. If a 341 needs to be rescheduled, the court clerk merely assigns the next available slot for the trustee in question.

Okay, I get it. I do believe though that the OP should have been given more than two days notice.

ep

[Cali]

Thank you, yet again.

The attorney has to go by the Court's schedule to have his/her client's case seen not vice versa. The BK court would not reschedule if one could not obtain child care or get off work - that's not their problem. That's just the way it is in the legal and business world - cut and dry, no one cares if you can't make Tommy's school play.

[justbroke]

I feel for the OP and undertand her situation as to having kids or organizing personal schedules (and the additional financial cost) and I am sure her attorney is as frustrated as she is cause he has to rearrange his entire schedule also and contact her about it.

I do understand the scheduling... as I'm a pro se filer and I have to deal with the Clerk's office for scheduling Motion hearings myself, and know that the Clerk controls the calendar.

However, I offered two reasons why the schedule may have changed. It can be Court driven or lawyer driven. While it is more likely that the Court changed the schedule, it could also have been requested by the lawyer.

My only addition to the what ifs... was that the OP should have informed her lawyer that this was causing issues with childcare and her schedule. Nothing wrong with that, regardless of the reason for the rescheduling.

[Cali]

How can it be attorney driven?

[justbroke]

How can it be attorney driven?

Attorney has other conflict, not related, and asks the court to move the date. That's attorney-driven. In no way am I saying that 341 scheduling, in and of itself, is attorney-driven. However, once a date is set, the attorney may ask the clerk to move it for any number of reasons (including conflicts). Maybe the lawyer had an emergency or other thing... just like anyone else.

I'm just trying to write that it could be more than just one reason why the date was moved. However, none of us know the reasons why. I offered two reasons why; one of which the majority agrees with, the other they don't.

I surely don't have all the information to make a conclusive statement about it. I'm not attorney bashing... nor am I making excuses for attorneys either.

I will say that it's stressful for some folks and I have personally had court appearances rearranged and it costs me time away from work and additional expense. We would all hope that officers of the court understand that -- which I think they do -- but sometimes they forget.

[momof5]

I am so sorry this has happened. I cannot even imagine but I do feel for you.

Just keep looking on the bright side... It WILL be over soon.

I think we all put so much anticipation into our 341 meetings that its hard not to take it personal that a trustee/attorney/bkcourt are not thinking on our level. We all know what a relief it is once its finally over.

Our attorney 'stand in' was late. Then once she arrived she didnt even acknowledge us. We had no idea that this mess of a person was an attorney! We figured we were going to do it alone. Had that happened I believe we would have been just fine.

Hang in there... they cant delay it forever

[woeisme]

My attorney had something come up so sent someone else from her firm to my 341. Well, the guy she sent got lost and drove the wrong direction on the interstate for a while (well, on an interstate bypass where it's a big circle and he's looking to go east and his choices are north and south, even though they are also going east and west, and he made the wrong choice, so I kind of understood it). He called the court and let them know he was running late, so the trustee put my case and the other one that my lawyer was handling to the end of the list, so I had to sit there a lot longer than necessary, but he eventually showed up. Also, since he was a "stand in" he didn't have all the necessary paperwork with him, a few things I had sent my lawyer that apparently didn't make it into my folder, but luckily I had brought duplicates of everything that the trustee asked for and the lawyer didn't have. I was pretty annoyed by the stand in being late, and then unprepared, but it all went well anyway, so I guess I shouldn't complain. I was about 15 minutes late getting back to work, but that was it.

[justbroke]

My attorney had something come up so sent someone else from her firm to my 341.

Even though this didn't go exactly as planned, at least your lawyer's office tried to accommodate.

When I was observing the 341s the day of mine, a nervous debtor was called to the table and her lawyer wasn't there. Some other guy sits next to her -- not her lawyer -- and she tells the Trustee her lawyer isn't here. The Trustee says something like... "well John is here... they are interchangeable".

Now that's great when you have a law office that has the manpower to deal with events such as overscheduling. I can understand where smaller offices can't deal with overscheduling as well. It does keep their costs down.

My only reason to assert an unpopular position here in this thread, is that there are offices that go above and beyond (sending a surrogate) when facing scheduling issues.

[Cali]

My attorney never attends 341's, they have one specific person that does that for every case.

I have worked with law firms before and if something does come up they always have someone to stand in their place.

When I had my 341, there was an older women there that was called up and her attorney wasn't there. The trustee asked if she wanted to wait, and she said no. So they started w/out the attorney. The trustee told the lady she should make the attorney give her a refund. The attorney did finally show up, but it was at the very end.