lawyers and their attitude of no concern

[dumbpig]

Anyone feel as tho their lawyer doesn't really care what goes on and give the most disintererested responses when you ask him questions. My lawyer is going on vacation soon as his secretary handles all the questions and concerns and she won't be their for two weeks. On friday I called and said is my case filed yet and she said she had a question for the lawyer and hadn't filed yet.
1. I have some stock options that are worthless and she said what if they become worth something. I said I don't care let them take the damn money I owe it anyways.
I then told her to file and give me the case number but I never received a call back. I now don't know if my case was filed and won't know for two weeks as this is so confusing. Is their anywhere I can look to see if it was filed? I don't want them filing on september first which is pay day as theywill see 3500 in the bank from my check.(bills to pay but doesn't it look bad)
Anyone else have similar problems?
1. As stated before I am also amazed that my attorney and his secretary see nothing wrong with recent use of cards or cash advance from 5 months ago. They say its no big deal. They say no one has ever been asked for proof of bank statements or tax returns. It amazes me after what I've read on this board. The guy has been around for awhile so does it really matter what state your in. Im in illinois

[hhou812hh]

Sorry to hear about the lawyer problems. I usually think it's better to use an atty then not use one, but your situation does sound very annoying. I'm also surprised that bk lawyers are even taking any vacations. While they are entitled to this will be their last hurrah before the new laws change then the party for the bk lawyers will be over. Under the new laws they will charge more per client but may have much fewer clients so business will be slower for them.

Maybe you can cancel your direct deposit and deposit in the bank only enough to cover current bills or get money orders to pay them. I canceled my direct deposit a month ago for this reason. I will be meeting with my lawyer in 10 days from now and am requesting that he file in 30 days from now.

Were the cash advances large? Was it a few hundred or a few thousand? I made large advances 3 and 1/2 months before I file so for that reason plus I have about $300 a month left over as disposable income I will be filing a ch13. I spoke with 3 atty's and 2 actually said a ch7 for me "may work". A paralegal for one of the atty's thinks that with my income and those charges a ch13 is the only choice.


Good luck!

[mrman]

I think they just get used to it. Every see a doctor gag or go "wow" when they see something kind of disgusting? I'm a financial guy, and people can show me large sums of money and I don't even think of it any more, but at least I show empathy and caring.

[dumbpig]

5000 in cash advance around 120 days ago and some balance transfers around 4k. Its due to gambling and I had no intention of filing bankruptcy. What a time.

[HHM]

Trustee practices vary around the nation. In some parts of the country, they quite specifically require 3 months bank statements, 2 years tax returns, 3 months paystubs, and proof of homestead. Others simply want you to show up with you ID and social security card.

As for your attorney, you havn't really stated anything that sounds like a problem to me. Instead of worrying about your attorney not worrying, I would think you should take comfort in the fact that your attorney does not see a problem. I agree, those cash advances and balance transfers are just far enough away that they may not be a problem. Again, I suppose it depends on the creditors and where you live, in some cities, the creditors have aggressive attorney's, in others they don't have any attorney.

In general, as there have been several "attorney" posts...if there is one fault that many attorney's have when it comes to bankruptcy is that the attorney does not do a good job at setting expectations of the client in bankruptcy regarding the attorney's services. Although the the $900, $1200, $1500 you pay the attorney seems like a lot of money to you and its probably the last little bit of money you have left, its not very much money for an attorney (consider that the average hourly rate of an attorney is between $200 and $400 per hour, do the math). The only way an attorney is profitable in bankruptcy is by having a paralegal do most of the work. Bankruptcy is a legal service and honestly for what you pay for that service, it doesn't include customer service. From a business perspective, bankruptcy is a one time shot from the attorney's point of view with little chance of future business from any particular client. So, all the attorney cares about is getting the informatio he/she needs to file the case and minimally living up to his/her professional rules of responsibility when it comes to you as a client. Sharing your concerns and being at you beckon call are simply not part of the package. Depending on the size of the firm, you are 1 in dozen, or 1 in 50 bankrutpcies that attorney is handling.

This is not to say that there are not bad attorneys, or that mistakes are not made.