Anyone had to pay attorney for phone calls?

[Pizza]

I want to call my attorney to ask about the progress of my filing, specifically when I might find out the date of the 341 meeting.

But my agreement says, in a schedule of assorted fees, that "The minimum charge for any phone call, conference or other service shall be $25.00".

Has anyone else run into this? Did it apply to quick 'where are we at?' phone calls? I don't want to rack up fees, but it's been a couple of weeks since the filing date and I'd like to know where I am.

[justbroke]

This is typical and is really based on how much time you spend. Once 1 minute phone calls gets billed as 6 minutes (they tend to bill in 1/10ths of an hour). So, if your attorney is $250/hr, then 1-6 minutes would cost $25.00. (Luckily, it doesn't appear that your attorney bills at quarter hours!)

As for your 341 Meeting date, you should have known that date "shortly" after filing. If you have been waiting 2 weeks to find out your 341 Meeting date, then something is wrong. I would certainly call and later contest any billing.

[Pjmax]

Can you email?

[Pizza]

Hrmm... I guess they would also charge me to call to contest the billing ... ?

As for e-mail, the "hourly charge, if applicable, will apply to phone calls, e-mails, office visits, conferences with witnesses or other attorneys, meeting and court appearances EXCEPT those for which a fixed fee is provided above."

Justbroke, if you think something is wrong, I will probably just have to suck it up and call anyway. I was just surprised at all the extra fees for very simple communications.

[Pizza]

I called.

NO WONDER they haven't given me the 341 date yet. He still hasn't filed! It will be Friday that he files the paperwork.

I must have picked the wrong attorney. Looks like this guy takes the cash, sits on the paperwork for a while, client wonders what's going on and calls, so he gets to charge for the phone calls. Maybe it's just me being paranoid, but that's what is seems like. We were originally told that it would have been filed last Monday (20th).

[justbroke]

I am so glad that you called! Not in the attorneys defense, but they tend to send in a "batch" of client petitions all on the same day so as to get the same Trustee and 341 Meeting Date.

[Pizza]

No kidding? I would have never thought of that. Makes sense though.

[Pjmax]

Pizza, my attorney files 'at the end of the month,' which I didn't know at the time. Mine was filed 3 weeks after I signed, and just before a holiday weekend, so no one was available by phone or email for awhile. The only way I knew my filing date was by watching Pacer. It was at least a week after that that I received notice from the court.

[Pizza]

I see. That would have been helpful for him to tell us, instead of 'probably on Monday'... he kinda lied to us since we signed on the 17th. My wife is panicking a bit because one week in particular, her employer would demand a good explanation for missing work (and 'because I filed bankruptcy and had to go to court' probably wouldn't be too good).

The phone call thing seems like kind of a racket. It got me thinking about a phone call to set up a time to sign papers, and another one where he called to ask if we were nearly at his office, and maybe another... looks an easy to way to lose a couple hundred bucks over a few minutes worth of separate conversations...

[Diesel73L]

Seems a little excessive to me. There was a sentence in the letter we got that said there would be a charge for "excessive phone calls" (I'm sure they get folks who are nervous and call every couple of days), but we spoke with our attorney three or four times between the first consultation, filing, and the 341 meeting. We never saw a bill. Of course, part of the reason we weren't calling him was because I usually got pretty good answers here ;)

[ccmisery]

I have a pre 341 consultation scheduled with my attorney the day before my 341 meeting, no fees or charges it's all inclusive. I can also stop in my attorney's office and drop off and meet with the paralegal for now additional charges.

[Drazil65]

Get a pacer account to follow your case from filing to discharge. Then only call attorney (or email, I had great luck with emailing our attorney very early in the morning when I woke up, like 6:00 - 6:30 am, he would respond immediately in most cases) you do not understand something you see on pacer. If you check pacer everyday you will see your case come up once he files. Then you will see the 341 date and all the documents filed, easy to follow along. Good Luck!

[Pizza]

That sounds like a good idea. Of course if the attorney had just taken my money and ran, PACER would not help me.

Hopefully this was the last phone call I needed to make and the only other time I will see the attorney is at the 341. I'm nervous about the phone calls that have already been made though, and how harsh he is going to bill me for them.

[ksgirl38]

Most of the attorneys I talked to filed at the end of the month or coordinated filing right before a pay day when your bank account is lowest. Seems like he should have discussed that with you since you'd most likely need to report what was in your bank accounts the day of filing.

[Pjmax]

Most of the attorneys I talked to filed at the end of the month or coordinated filing right before a pay day when your bank account is lowest. Seems like he should have discussed that with you since you'd most likely need to report what was in your bank accounts the day of filing.

No one ever asked about my bank acct. on filing day, and the latest bank statement I gave to my atty. was a month old by filing day.