Annoyed with Attorney

[patkatmom]

I'm venting here, sorry!

Our 341 was originally supposed to be on Thursday September 4th, but on September 2nd the attorney's office called to reschedule claiming that the attorney had 2 341s at the same time in two different places. He rescheduled for tomorrow September 18th. I just rec'd a phone call from the attorney's office saying it's been rescheduled for October 14th!!!! I already arranged/paid for child care for my kids twice and now will have to do it again. Not only that, my husband had surgery scheduled for that date that I will try to have to rearrange.

Does this happen often?? or do I just have a bad attorney?

[justbroke]

Does this happen often?? or do I just have a bad attorney?

Sounds like an Attorney trying to have his/her cake and eat it too. Re-scheduling a 341 once, is a major thing to do. To have done it twice or thrice... is pure madness, to me.

I would have let him know in no-uncertain terms that it has/had already been rescheduled one/twice. I would have let him/her know that my time is valuable too. And, if he wants to re-schedule again, s/he can pay the childcare costs.

(Although the second re-scheduling may have not been his fault... could have come from the Trustee's office...)

Of course, that's just my opinion. You came here to vent, and I think that you deserve to vent!

[AngelinaCat]

It sounds like you have at the very LEAST a very inconsiderate attorney. I am not aware of this happening like this. Some of the other members will have to respond.

How comfortable are you with the idea of going by yourself w/o the attorney? If you are comfortable, I would call up and tell them that NO, YOUR schedule is NOT convenient with MINE. Keep my 341 when it is scheduled; I’ll go by myself!

At the very least, send your attorney, invoices for your two days of child care, certified return receipt! That should get his/her attention.

Good luck!

[Minnymouth]

UNFORTUNATELY,
when your dealing with the Bankruptcy Court - you do it their way!!!
Consider the extra amount your having to pay for childcare as a little inconvenience for getting $$$$$$$$ of your debt discharged.

Small amount, huh?

[Cali]

At least he let you know the day before and not the day of. So you should be able to cancel the daycare.

I wouldn't consider your attorney bad at all. He is just busy. What would you want him to do if things come up?

[happy_ira]

patkat - this sounds extremely frustrating. And the wait and wait... hang in there. If anything, use the extra time to go over your schedules and iron out any issues.

[justbroke]

I wouldn't consider your attorney bad at all. He is just busy. What would you want him to do if things come up?

You bring up a good point. At what point is the attorney bad?

We don't know if the Attorney did this to make his life more convenient, or that he had no choice. To reschedule the 341 once, understandable. To reschedule it twice... now it could be systematic of a lawyer issue... not diligent?

Who knows anyhow. We can only hope our lawyers have our best interest at heart.

[Flamingo]

I'm venting here, sorry!

Our 341 was originally supposed to be on Thursday September 4th, but on September 2nd the attorney's office called to reschedule claiming that the attorney had 2 341s at the same time in two different places. He rescheduled for tomorrow September 18th. I just rec'd a phone call from the attorney's office saying it's been rescheduled for October 14th!!!! I already arranged/paid for child care for my kids twice and now will have to do it again. Not only that, my husband had surgery scheduled for that date that I will try to have to rearrange.

Does this happen often?? or do I just have a bad attorney?

Do you realize none of this could be any fault of the attorney and could be reschedulings by the BK court/Trustee? In fact, it is the BK court that sets all the court dates and they are usually done in groupings per various attorneys (i.e., several BK's handled by one attorney are scheduled for the same date). None of this means you have a "bad" attorney. It's probably just because your court hearing has fallen at a bad time for some scheduling issues. Courts are emotionless...they don't care if someone has to make child care arrangements or has to miss work or whatever. That's just the way the legal world is. If you are really frustrated about this, contact your attorney and mention all these reschedulings are costing you money and you truly hope this does not happen again. Attorneys and law firms are used to these happenings and they occur all the time. Clients usually are not unless they are used to the dealings of the professional or corporate worlds.

[HHM]

Do you realize none of this could be any fault of the attorney and could be reschedulings by the BK court/Trustee? In fact, it is the BK court that sets all the court dates and they are usually done in groupings per various attorneys (i.e., several BK's handled by one attorney are scheduled for the same date). None of this means you have a "bad" attorney. It's probably just because your court hearing has fallen at a bad time for some scheduling issues. Courts are emotionless...they don't care if someone has to make child care arrangements or has to miss work or whatever. That's just the way the legal world is. If you are really frustrated about this, contact your attorney and mention all these reschedulings are costing you money and you truly hope this does not happen again. Attorneys and law firms are used to these happenings and they occur all the time. Clients usually are not unless they are used to the dealings of the professional or corporate worlds.

I agree, this doesn't seem like an issue with "your" attorney, it is simply the system doing what it does.

Plus, I think you are over-hyping the significance of the 341, after all, all the deadlines in BK are set from the date of the FIRST scheduled 341, if a 341 is rescheduled (or continued in legal jargon), doing so does not effect the BK timeline.

[Cali]

Thank you Minny, Flamingo and HHM, glad to see others see it like I do.

[justbroke]

Thank you Minny, Flamingo and HHM, glad to see others see it like I do.

Hey, I see it that way, but I tend to see all sides.

We don't know if the Attorney did this to make his life more convenient, or that he had no choice.

[Cali]

Justbroke, I understood the last part of your post but the making it convenient part is what I didn't agree with since the attorney's don't have that power when it comes to 341's.

[epiphany]

I dunno. If my attorney had scheduled two 341's for the same time on the same day in two different places and could not provide me representation as promised, well, I would have thought that was pretty irresponsible.

Assuming it was just the luck of the draw or that stuff happens, then that stuff should have been anticipated (or rectifed long before such short notice was given) and there should have been some contingency plan...my lawyer sent someone else to handle the 341's on my hearing date and the guy was totally prepared to see everyone there.


The OP doesn't say WHY the 341 was rescheduled a second time (may not even know), but I know this would have upset me after making plans to get off work, etc...TWICE.

And I don't believe (although all my information on this topic has been gleaned from the PEOPLE's Court, so take it for what it's worth. ) that you can cancel daycare a mere 24hours in advance and not be responsible to pay for it.

One would expect any other agent that one is giving money to to fulfill the contract paid for. I don't see why an attorney should be any different.

I think the OP has a legitimate beef.

However, that is great information that you posted HHM. I had no idea. It should be of some comfort to the OP.

ep

[justbroke]

Justbroke, I understood the last part of your post but the making it convenient part is what I didn't agree with since the attorney's don't have that power when it comes to 341's.

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.

[HHM]

I dunno. If my attorney had scheduled two 341's for the same time on the same day in two different places and could not provide me representation as promised, well, I would have thought that was pretty irresponsible.

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.