Be aware of BK filing and attorney deadlines

[monster1234]

[crashzx]

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I would come unglued!! You are correct though..READ the agreement. I am so sorry the slimeball thinks he can take advantage of you. They are snakes to the core. I am not even going to a consultation untill we are ready to file. I just learned something new with this post.

[PdxDavid]

So the clock starts when you retained him in August or when you finished paying in September? Also, did you give him all the papers and just not sign and file or was it just consultation?

[liz417]

Wow!! Good to know.
When I first retained my attorney back in May of '08, I thought it would take a couple of months to pay him off (we were filling a ch 13 at the time), anyway a year later (may '09) we finally finished paying the attorney the $$. Within that year I found this site, read everything I could about BK and ultimately learned that I *might* qualify for a ch 7. My attorney and I went round and round regarding this (I am way over the median) and he decided to "quit" the case, I was concerned about how much he was going to refund me (we paid him $4k) because he took all my collection calls that year, got me my pre BK certificate and credit reports. I guess I was just lucky...he refunded everything, $4k plus the filing fees!!

I guess it just depends on the attorney...I would be pissed though! I'll have to look at my original agreement and see if something like that was in there

[jribe]

there's still 3 weeks of september left; why will he still charge you?

That is complete BS though. I would ask why no one in his office notified you of this term; and a "reminder" 3 months before expiration would have been nice.

You can always say you'll be making a complaint with the state bar and see if that "extends" the deadline.

What a jerk though. $3000 for doing nothing? They should just file for you

[music12]

wow. all these "non-refundable" payments. they should be just illegal. just because some time passed does not mean that the lawyer earned the money. it's insane.

[adviceplease]

Our lawyer verbally told us that we have 30 days from date of retainer to pay the balance but if for some reason it took a week or so longer it would be fine. They said for the $500 we put down they would pull our credit history and work on our case for 2 hours before the balance was paid. So I guess I can see the $500 of the retainer since it was in the contract but $3000 is crazy.