Meansno, Discharged, Closed...NOW UST Audit

[drowningNIL]

Tobee, yeah maybe we should do that. ??? He has been a bk attney for almost three decades which makes this sudden disappearance so strange. We sure felt it was weird and unprofessional the way we were left hanging. My husband spoke to the guy just a while back and no word of him leaving was mentioned! Maybe he didn't even expect it?? I don't know what to think.

The one that called the UST office let him know our attney is no longer around. Maybe they'll take pity on us lol....we probably had some bad representation because with both attorneys we spoke with prior to filing- we mentioned this money and they BOTH said never mind, it doesn't matter, don't worry about it. I guess they never counted on an audit.

[tobee43]

Tobee, yeah maybe we should do that. ??? He has been a bk attney for almost three decades which makes this sudden disappearance so strange. We sure felt it was weird and unprofessional the way we were left hanging. My husband spoke to the guy just a while back and no word of him leaving was mentioned! Maybe he didn't even expect it?? I don't know what to think.

The one that called the UST office let him know our attney is no longer around. Maybe they'll take pity on us lol....we probably had some bad representation because with both attorneys we spoke with prior to filing- we mentioned this money and they BOTH said never mind, it doesn't matter, don't worry about it. I guess they never counted on an audit.

well, first...shoot, i hope nothing happened to the guy...or gal..but i most certainly would see what could be done by the bar assoc. in as much as guidance... that what are you suppose to do right in the middle of an audit and your atty has apparently left town?? or is simply just gone with the wind???

i just don't want to see you not prepared to what could possible happen "next"...which i have no idea...hopefully hhm...or des might look at this and see what they think??

[drowningNIL]

right...i hope nothing bad happened but it just was so sudden and so strange.....both him and the secretary GONE. it is a group law office so when my husband called to follow up he did get another attorney (she is the one that called the ust office for us and let them know what's up and also got an extension on something for us) so I guess if we need more help she'd be the one... I don't know. I am just so half sick half head-spinning about this mess. It's par for the course with this bumpy ride. She (new attorney) is acting like we just send the stuff in and we are already done. Yes the money should have been disclosed (SHE says) but it wasn't so it is what it is. Maybe they'll care, maybe they won't. Not sure how long now we have to wait and see. I mailed the last bit of info out today directly to the ust office, but they already have most of it thru that attorney yesterday.

[chicagoannie]

Wow, Drowning. I hope it all works out. It sounds like the attorney or person at the law office that your hubby spoke to thinks the audit is no big deal, so maybe everything is A-ok.

[bluemartini]

Hang in there, Drowning. I've read this whole thread just now and unfortunately I have no advice, but my heart goes out to you.

[dumpinmydebt]

I'm so sorry. I hope everything works out in your favor.

[ValleYum]

I hope it resolves quickly!

Then you can tell them:

[LadyInTheRed]

Drowning, when you say your attorney worked in a "group", do you mean that he was part of a firm or that he just shared office space with other attorneys. If he was part of the firm, that firm may still be your attorney. When you hire an attorney who is a member of a lawfirm, you usually hire the firm, not the individual attorney. If the attorney leaves, the firm still represents you unless you agree otherwise. It sounds like the other attorneys are taking care of you anyway, but check your fee agreement so you know whether they are just being nice or if they are helping you because you are their client.

[enuffznuff]

I agree with Lady, it matters greatly whether it is a firm and he was an employee or it was an office share type thing (pretty common in legal circles). Your fee agreement should clear it up, it will either be with him (probably with a P.C. on the end of his name or something like it) or with the group name. If it's with the group name, they are still your attorneys and should be continuing representation (and, should have called you).
If it's an office share thing, that would explain why no one called you, no one would be responsible to do so but him. (and he should've, but it wouldn't be the remaining attorneys problems, really)

[kornellred]

The discharge is granted by the Court - it is not automatic. The judge issuing the discharge failed to do his/her job properly - why would a discharge be granted if an audit is pending? Makes no sense at all.....

[justbroke]

Ahh, but the discharge is automatic, in most Districts, if the Trustee doesn't set the correct flags in CM/ECF (PACER) to prevent an auto-discharge. This is a failure of the Office of the United States Trustee (OUST) not the judge.

[drowningNIL]

Thank you again for the replies. My husband and I are both just kind of coasting now. It is what it is. No going back now so we just have to wait it out.

We got an email from the law office that they did get our paperwork etc over to the UST office. And good question about whether it was just shared office space or he was part of the law firm. I automatically thought he was part of the firm but maybe not so. The one my husband met with earlier this week said if from this audit there are continued issues we need to "re engage" an attorney...meaning pay LOL. So for now we are just sitting tight and waiting. Not sure how long we wait, though, til we know we are in the clear. ????

Also we did have the flags on pacer that said "AUDIT - NO CLOSE" from about a week after our filing date in early Sept. I just stopped looking at Pacer sometime in November because any time I did I had a panic attack lol but the AUDIT NO CLOSE was still there last time I looked in November. Then right about a week after our discharge date Dec 20, we received the discharge letter. I peeked on Pacer at that time and it said CLOSED about three days after the discharge date.

I will keep you all posted. Thank you for the good thoughts.

[justbroke]

It had the "audit no close" flag, and they still closed it, or did they remove the flag. Now that would be interesting for sure. So sorry to keep reading of your woes. Not only can't believe your attorney dropped the ball on this, the fact that he disappeared as well, is disheartening. Have you checked with the Bar Association's professional directory to see where he went?

[drowningNIL]

It had the "audit no close" flag, and they still closed it, or did they remove the flag. Now that would be interesting for sure. So sorry to keep reading of your woes. Not only can't believe your attorney dropped the ball on this, the fact that he disappeared as well, is disheartening. Have you checked with the Bar Association's professional directory to see where he went?

Well the last I saw which was sometime around mid to late November the Audit No Close flag was still there. What finally made me stop looking at Pacer was when I saw a note that we weren't cooperating with the request for info for the audit. We contacted our attorney because we had never had any request for any extra info. He said no worries, they have everything they need but he will contact them and clear it up - it's a mistake he said & he told my husband that we would see the Audit No Close flag go away. Well I checked Pacer about a week after that conversation and the flag was still there so I just figured I am not going to drive myself nuts with checking daily and worrying about things I see noted and I quit the Pacer habit. Now I wish I would have continued my neurotic Pacer watching LOL because I really have no clue whether that flag ever went away - but I doubt it did because now we know the attorney did NOT contact them regarding the info/audit because we wound up getting a letter in the mail earlier this month from the OUST that they still needed the info for the audit. Really screwy. Not sure how did they managed to discharge and close this with the audit still not completed? I thought a judge had to close the case????

We are very curious where our attorney went & why. We didn't know how to find out. The office offered no info. Thanks for that idea.

[justbroke]

The Clerks, more particularly the Case Managers, are permitted to issue certain orders in the Judge's name, as if the Judge him/herself signed the order. This is to make everything flow better. The Clerks can issue summons, subpoenas, issue orders dismissing the case for administrative issues (like 521 compliance), deficiency notices, and the like... in the Judge's name.

The flag would have prevented an automatic closing, but may not necessarily prevent a manual discharge issued by the Clerk. In any event, I don't want to second guess what happened, but your lawyer is the one who was at fault. I hope this does work out for you.