change attorney in between

[In2deepnow]

Help. This is my first post. My attorney went with me on my 341 and clueless. made a mess of my schedules, he said it's OK to make my parent who lives with us since she is 67 and just collects social security. At the 341 meeting, the UST got involved and asked if how much was her Social security, futhermore, he has put such big wiggle room on other expenses I can't justify?, and included my 401K payments and contributions as deductions to income. can I amend the means test and schedule i and j, then fire him and get a more competent one? Please help...

[jribe]

you could try and hire someone else. However, most attorneys (at least in CA) won't take a case that's half-way done- and if they do, they're going to charge a lot more- to fix the other guys mess.

I would just make this current attorney fix everything, and if he does not- tell him you will be filing a complain with the state bar.

I would also ask for a partial refund because of the mistakes. Again- i would threaten bar action, as well as online reviews of his services...

You can also just ammend the schedules yourself. It's not that difficult, but up to you.

Good luck

Help. This is my first post. My attorney went with me on my 341 and clueless. made a mess of my schedules, he said it's OK to make my parent who lives with us since she is 67 and just collects social security. At the 341 meeting, the UST got involved and asked if how much was her Social security, futhermore, he has put such big wiggle room on other expenses I can't justify?, and included my 401K payments and contributions as deductions to income. can I amend the means test and schedule i and j, then fire him and get a more competent one? Please help...

[AngelinaCat]

You would have to get the attorney to withdraw. If he doesn't want to, then you will have to make a Motion to the Court to dismiss him and either go pro se, or introduce another attorney that has agreed to take your case.

But as jribe says, you are going to have trouble finding someone that will agree to take a half started case and fix it, and will likely cost more all around.

We had a lousy attorney also, and filed a Motion to dismiss her and go pro se, but the Judge told us at the hearing, that essentially the work was already done, and that we were just waiting for for the last day for the Creditors to Object. And if he was to grant the Motion, that it would delay our case and Discharge. Which was a hell of alot more information than we ever got from her, because she was never available to answer our questions.

Good luck to you!

[HHM]

Let's back up, has anything actually happened. Has an objection been filed?

If nothing has actually happened, you should just ride it out. As has been pointed out, as a practical matter, NO attorney is going to jump into a case already filed. (and if one was willing to do so, you wouldn't want them anyway). Technically, you can fire your attorney at anytime, but unless something has happened, I don't think you should do anything.

[In2deepnow]

HHM. The UST was all over me during my 341, she just asked several things on my schedule. I answered the best I can and from my answer I believe she was satisfied, no follow-up questions. Friday is the 10th day since my 341. UST have not contacted me or my attorney for anything. If they are objecting on something, will they have let me know in advance or on the 10th day they will say "SURPRISE!!!!" Presumption of Abuse...Motion to dismiss or convert! If pacer were a person, it would have said..."you've been asking for your status every 15 minutes..."

[AngelinaCat]

Watch out about checking PACER ever so often. Each time you click a link to look at a page, you are racking up 8 cents a page.

If a notice does come, the attorney may let you know ahead of time, but probably not. We always got the paper notice from the attorney about the sme time that it showed up on PACER.

Good luck!

[mautang21]

thanks Cat. As for your advice and HHM's, i am trying to work it out with my lawyer. I am in their office everyday, with all the info I learned from this forum, they were even offering me a part time gig. Nothing was sent from the trustee or the UST's office.

[In2deepnow]

I've been trying to contact my lawyer not returning my calls and email. This waiting game sucks. If they did not issue of presumed abuse or motion to something by friday night...is that good or bad?