Discharged today but need garnishment help!

[BKConfused]

First the good news: Checked Pacer today and was 64 days in on my no-asset chapter 7. Called Bankruptcy clerk and asked how long until discharge because I was concerned it would be delayed due to filing an amended schedule F ( added a few creditors I forgot). He said " don't worry I will take care of it today." I logged on to PACER on it now says discharged! Yeah!
Now the bad news and question: My wife's wages were garnished starting in the first week of December and we never received the writ in time to answer to it. The 14 days had passed. We called our lawyer (actually his legal aide) and asked him to call the Garnisher as they said they would only talk to our attorney. He said he would take care of it. The creditor received 2 weeks of garnishments and we want it back! Luckily her payroll department was able to stop it after two payments by faxing our petition cover letter. Our lawyer is dodging our calls and not doing anything on our behalf to retrieve the first two payments. How are we going to get our payments back? It is definately a willful violation and this company Wolpoff and Abramson have been the worst! But wait it gets worse We called to check the status of our state tax return and it has been garnished. I called the treasury dept. and they said I need a release of garnishment which the creditor refuses to do and which our lawyer could give a rat's a** to take care of. Can we complain to the Trustee about the garnishments. Also what is the lawyer's role post discharge relating to garnishments and representation? Thanks.

[bkfiler]

hmm, great questions. cant wait to hear the answers. in the meantime i would say call the trustee for sure. he deals with violations all the time and will lead you in the correct direction.

ye sthe attorneys job is to deal with your enrtire case. entire - not just whatever makes it fun for him. it may cost you some money, not sure. that stuff is just a matter of a phone call or a quick letter.

also, they can not take money from you after the date of the petition filing. they must return it to you is my understanding. it was a msitake because they didnt know about it yet. but i beleive they owe it back to you.

call the trustee. call the attorney. keep calling the attorney.

[StaciMM]

They should return it. First start, your wife should contact her payroll and find out if they actually sent the funds on to the creditor yet. In our situation, Dh's employer pulled the funds out weekly, but only sent $$ to the creditor every 30-45 days. If they haven't sent it on, they should be able to credit it back.

[BKConfused]

Yes her payroll sent the two payments to the creditor. The Creditor says they will not talk to my wife only the lawyer. Lawyer hasn't done squat about it and dodges calls. It is frustrating because it seems like I am fighting two battles. 1) with the garnisher/creditor and 2) To get my lawyer to do his job. Feels like the creditor snuck in under the radar to get what he could out of us while he could and my lawyer doesn't seem to feel it is important enough to take care of.

[bkfiler]

they didnt sneak. if they were not aware of the bk then its theirs to take. if they took it by mistake then its yours for them to give back.

go get it, its yours.

call the trustee. call the attorney. keep calling the attorney.

[BKConfused]

The interesting thing is we were never served the writ of garnishment in time to object and they were on the matrix.

[bkfiler]

can you tell us the date you filed your bk and the first day of wages they took.

[BKConfused]

We filed on 9-30-05 and the first check garnished was 12-01-05. Like I said we received the writ after the 14 day period for objections because it was sent to the a different store than she works at. She called her payroll right after she the first garnishment and the company that does her employee's garnishments dragged their feet saying she needed to fax first the 341 notice than they changed that to saying they needed the petition cover letter. Then it was that they needed a court validated copy of the whole petition. Next it was we need to talk to your lawyer.

[bkfiler]

well its a good question thats for sure. keep on the attorney. id call the trustee directly to be honest. sometimes he makes a quick phone call and its taken care of.

that is a long time for them not to know about it and still go to garnish the wages. i wonder if you couldnt sue them. nonetheless, you will get that money back.

send them certified letters documenting the simple facts of when you filed bk adn that you want your money back and that they violated the automatic bk stay. id do that in the meantime. send 1 every 2 weeks until it gets resolved.

[BKConfused]

Thanks BKfiler. I think that is sound advice. I am very unhappy with my attorney. I had to file an amendment to my schedule because he forgot to list some creditors ( Not the one who is garnishing). It took him until 45 days in before he filed the amended schedule, grrrr! I called and bothered his secretery every day for over a month to get it done. I am surprised it did not delay discharge. I think calling the trustee is my best shot to recoup the money. Do you have to contact her through the bankruptcy court or her private practice I wonder. Also not to be a pest but can an individual file a motion against a creditor in bankruptcy court pro se since my BK is dismissed?

[FilingOnMyOwn]

I don't know what to tell you about getting your money back, but if I were in your shoes I would see to it that a complaint is made against that attorney, however it works through the bar or whatever. Its inexcuseable that you hire someone and they avoid you so they don't have to do their job. And yes I would still be trying to get him to do the rest of the work. You paid the attorney, and until your case is closed, the attorney is responsible for completing the work. Even though its discharged, your case is still open until its officially closed.

[bkfiler]

i aggree with filingonmyown, make a complaint - but do it 6 months after your case is closed. you dont want to piss the attorney off right now. and its safe to wait a bit of time to make sure nothing else happens in the case. after close would probably be good enough.

he cant avoid you like that. its his responsabilty to answer all your questions. and also to take care of situations with your case. doesnt matter if you have been a PIA or not lol.

you will get the money back imo. so keep working it. if the trustee does something for you then its free. i love free

yes you can file motions to the court yourself, even though i heard that if you are respresented then your attorney must do it. not sure how much water that holds. if your attorney aint working for you then what are you to do. however, i do not know what you should file and with what court on this matter. did you send your attorney a request letter regarding this issue and your wages certrified mail?

hehe, try that and see how fast he works it. also, in the letter politely outline all the times you have contacted him regarding it. do not accuse him of anything. just state it matter of factly with no emotions. explain that you really need him to take care of this. its really been too long. ask what your options are of sueing the creditor are as well.

[SinkingFast]

he cant avoid you like that. its his responsabilty to answer all your questions. and also to take care of situations with your case. doesnt matter if you have been a PIA or not lol.

Actually, maybe, maybe not. One attny we've had a consult with gave us a copy of the "contract" for her services. It spells out exactly what she will and will not do for the fee paid for the BK. This particular situation would be outside that contract for her services for the BK. If we were in this situation and wanted her to handle it for us, we'd have to retain her seperate of the BK for more money. That may be the case here. Did you have a contract with your attny?? If so, does it specify what services he will provide for the fee paid?? You may have to retain your BK attny for new services. Or, since he's dodging you, you may wanna find a new attny.

[bkfiler]

contract doesnt matter. also, ive said before it might cost more to handle it.

nonetheless, the current attorney is responsible for handling all client problems at the start. this includes answering all questions regarding the case and advising the client and what action should be taken for each problem in the case.

this is what your expectation should be from the start. wetehr you get this kind of attention is a different matter. just remember it is their responsability to quickly answers all your questions. and they know it.

[bkfiler]

this isnt the legal code of attorney conduct i was talking about but it shows what a reasonable attorney things about handling clients calls.


Q: I want to know about my case, but my lawyer never calls me and won't return my calls. When I finally talk to my lawyer, he doesn't know much about my case and he seems like he is in a hurry to get me off the telephone. Are all lawyers like that?

A: No, all lawyers are not like that and you probably should get a new lawyer. Your case is the one that is the most important to you and it should be just as important to your lawyer. If your case is not important to your lawyer, he shouldn't be your lawyer.

Lawyers are busy people. If your lawyer is not busy, that is probably a good sign that you should hire someone else. However, being busy is no excuse for your lawyer not keeping you informed and for not returning your telephone calls. If your call is an emergency, your lawyer should drop what he is doing to talk to you. If the lawyer is not in the office and your call is an emergency, another lawyer in the firm or someone on the staff should help you immediately.

If your call is not an emergency, you should leave a message for the lawyer and you should expect to receive a return telephone call within one or two days. If you call your lawyer and he tells you that he is too busy at that moment to speak with you or that he needs to review your file to answer your question, you should not be concerned so long as the lawyer promises to call you back later that day or the next day and actually does call. You may have caught the lawyer in the middle of talking with another client or preparing court papers so it is reasonable that he cannot talk to you right then. Also, good lawyers have many other cases that they are handling and it is not possible to remember everything about all of the cases. If your lawyer wishes to review his file so that he can answer your question thoroughly and accurately, that is the sign of a good lawyer (provided, of course, that he actually calls you back promptly).