Should I switch attorney?

[LadyInTheRed]

I'm glad to hear that things seem to be moving forward. Get those signed documents back to the attorney right away and ask them to send you confirmation after it has been filed with the court. If you don't get a confirmation within 24 hours, follow up.

Until everything is taken care of, I suggest you not leave anything in your truck that you can't do without. Either that, or park it in a locked garage.

[Omnipotent]

Well.. after closer review of the paper work they sent me (form B 6I & BJ) there doesn't appear to be anything related to removing the arrears. What these forms appear to be are for an adjustment of my payment with respect to my income. Also, the new payment amount is twice as much as the amount I was told when I met them face to face. I held off sending the signed copies back until I find out more.

What 'forms' should be submitted to remove the arrears? I am suspicious they are still avoiding the steps to remove the arrears for some reason. I know for a fact that a percentage of any payment I send in is still going to the bank that holds my mortgage. Right now I do not know how or if those moneys are getting applied to my mortgage.

Would filing a motion to remove the arrears so far long after the mortgage was restructured throw a red flag with the courts and or trustee?

[LadyInTheRed]

There should also be some sort of petition or motion to modify your plan and a modified plan. It is the modified plan that should omit payment on arrears that was included in your confirmed plan.

[Omnipotent]

I looked over the forms, and there isn't anything mentioned or referenced with respect to debt obligations, much less anything about modifying them. All I see is a schedule of income and expenses with a new payment amount.

I talked to my attorney this morn, and he wouldn't say yes/no there is anything needed to be filed to remove the arrears. Felt he was being very vague with me and all he would say was, "moving forward no moneys would be applied to my mortgage". The problem I have with that is, I was told that months ago too. That turned out to be not true. I signed the forms they sent me and sent them back. Not sure what I should do next....

[despritfreya]

I talked to my attorney this morn, and he wouldn't say yes/no there is anything needed to be filed to remove the arrears. . . I signed the forms they sent me and sent them back. Not sure what I should do next....

I’m going to chime in here.

You filed in 2011. At that time you were behind in mortgage payments. Your Chapter 13 Plan provided for the "curing" of the arrears while you made your future mortgage payments. The Plan also provided for payment of a vehicle.

In the summer of 2014 (3 years after you filed) you successfully modified your mortgage loan outside the context of the bk. I will assume you did this through HAMP.

Shortly after you modified the mortgage, you asked your attny to remove the arrears and reduce your Plan payment. The attny, presumably without looking at your file, told you "no problem, reduce your payment by a fifth". You did this without submitting a modified plan and an amended budget to the Court. Now you are facing a motion to dismiss due to failure to remain current. No surprise there. Malpractice

To add insult to injury, the vehicle lender filed a Motion for Relief From the Automatic Stay due to the Plan payment default. You current attny failed to timely respond and the stay has been lifted. Malpractice.

As of today, the only thing you have received from the attny is an amended Schedule I and J. You signed and returned this to your attny.

Having said the above (and you can print this out and show it to your attny) . .

The minute you told your attny that you successfully modified the mortgage, the attny should have. . .

A. Pulled your file from the cabinet and reviewed it;

B. Pulled the case status report from the Trustee to see how much of the arrears had been paid to date. If the report reflected that there were arrears still scheduled to be paid. . .;

C. Confirmed with the lender that it will either amend or withdraw its Proof of Claim because the arrears are current due to the loan modification;

D. Determine if, with the removal of the arrears, plan payments can be reduced;

E. If a reduction was not possible, advise you of the same and tell you to continue to make Plan payments in the current amount per the confirmed plan;

F. If a reduction was possible, send to you a budget form worksheet to update your income and expenses;

G. Once receiving the updated budget worksheet, calculated a new Plan payment, taking into consideration exactly what has not been paid to the mortgage lender;

H. Drafted a Modified Plan and an Amended Schedule I and J for you to review and sign;

I. Once signed by you, file the same with the Court.

Had the above (A-I) been timely done, the vehicle lender would not have filed a Motion for Relief. Since the attny failed to do what needed to be done, the minute the Motion was filed, he/she should have filed a TIMELY response indicating that a modified plan would be forthcoming.

Call the attny and find out where the Modified Plan is. Also get in writing exactly what was done to protect that vehicle. And. . . If this attny keeps screwing with you contact the State Bar.

Again, feel free to show your attny this email. Mistakes happen but it appears you have an incompetent attny - going beyond an innocent mistake. I hate incompetence and your attny needs a smack in the face.

Des.

[BKAttyMI]

I agree with Des, as I said, your attorney/firm is not competent. You need new counsel immediately, I can't believe no one will accept the case for a fee, this is done all the time. You must not be contacting the right people. Quit messing around with your current firm's crap and get to someone competent.

[LadyInTheRed]

Omnipotent, you have now had two bankruptcy attorneys agree that your attorney is not competent. despritfreya even used the "M" word which, from my 30 years of experience working for attorneys I can tell you attorneys do not do lightly, even in reference to another attorney. If I were you, I would keep trying to get the current attorney to do something while also looking for a new attorney. Send a copy of despritfreya's post to your attorney and insist that he immediately prepare and forward a modified plan for your review and signature. In the meantime, keep looking for a new attorney. Did you try calling the court to see if they have a list of attorneys? Did you try the Texas Bar Association legal referral service? https://www.texasbar.com/AM/Template..._Service_LRIS_

For information on filing a grievance against your attorney go to http://www.texasbar.com/Content/Navi..._Grievance.htm

[Omnipotent]

I called the Texas bar attorney referral hot line this morning to find another attorney. They confirmed that no attorney will talk to me about my case while being represented by another. "Conflict of interest" is what they cited. They wouldn't even give a referral for another attorney. Was then told that I would need to fire my current attorney first by sending a certified letter requesting they withdraw from the case, and they would need to file with the courts that they are withdrawing. Thought I could just hire another attorney and they would fire the current for me. So as of now, I'm trying to find another attorney willing to take my case if I fire my current one. Called and left messages with some more firms. We'll see how this goes....

[Omnipotent]

I’m going to chime in here.

<snip>

Again, feel free to show your attny this email. Mistakes happen but it appears you have an incompetent attny - going beyond an innocent mistake. I hate incompetence and your attny needs a smack in the face.

Des.

Thank you very much for this info. At this point, I'm am probably not going to deal with them again except for a request to terminate their services.

And thank you ALL for the help.

[BKAttyMI]

I am not admitted in TX, however, here in MI, it is just a simple "substitution of counsel" form that needs to be filed. A new attorney can take care of that for you. I'm sure TX surely has something similar.