(Long sorry)
Need advice if it's worth it to pursue a grievance against a bad atty who is refusing to return any money or phone calls. I actually posted on here a few weeks ago when the atty we retained and paid the first $550 advised us we would not qualify for a chapter 7 (after he told us we would during our initial consultation he never even ran a means test or filled out schedule I/J) just said we make too much money. Ok?!?
Anyway, he suggested (through his paralegal) my husband and I "seperate" on paper by changing my address on my drivers liscense to obtain the numbers necessary to qualify for a chapter 7. I asked many, many questions including if this was "illegal", "unethical", etc. and I was told it's not a problem, they've done it before with no issues.
We finally spoke with him personally today (had to stalk him via phone after 2 weeks on no return phone calls) to let him know we will not be using his services due to the fact he recommended we do something unethical not to mention fradulent. We asked for a portion of our money back (the only thing he did was type up some paperwork with my name mispelled) and we felt $550 was a bit excessive based on this and he told us there would be no refund, denied the accusation and hung up on us!
My question is, is it worth it to file a grievance with the state bar to report this behavior? It's bad enough we're going through this situation, but on top of it all he basically stole our money, told us to lie and was going to charge us double to do so!
Any advice and thoughts are appreciated. We are now doing better homework on the next atty we will select. Hoping to make a decision next week. Thanks for your help everyone this site has been informative and has made me feel like we're not alone in this mess.
Need advice if it's worth it to pursue a grievance against a bad atty who is refusing to return any money or phone calls. I actually posted on here a few weeks ago when the atty we retained and paid the first $550 advised us we would not qualify for a chapter 7 (after he told us we would during our initial consultation he never even ran a means test or filled out schedule I/J) just said we make too much money. Ok?!?
Anyway, he suggested (through his paralegal) my husband and I "seperate" on paper by changing my address on my drivers liscense to obtain the numbers necessary to qualify for a chapter 7. I asked many, many questions including if this was "illegal", "unethical", etc. and I was told it's not a problem, they've done it before with no issues.
We finally spoke with him personally today (had to stalk him via phone after 2 weeks on no return phone calls) to let him know we will not be using his services due to the fact he recommended we do something unethical not to mention fradulent. We asked for a portion of our money back (the only thing he did was type up some paperwork with my name mispelled) and we felt $550 was a bit excessive based on this and he told us there would be no refund, denied the accusation and hung up on us!
My question is, is it worth it to file a grievance with the state bar to report this behavior? It's bad enough we're going through this situation, but on top of it all he basically stole our money, told us to lie and was going to charge us double to do so!
Any advice and thoughts are appreciated. We are now doing better homework on the next atty we will select. Hoping to make a decision next week. Thanks for your help everyone this site has been informative and has made me feel like we're not alone in this mess.
Comment