my lawyer is withdrawing after 341 hearing

[_ZardoZ_]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MD

It is 2 business days before my 341 meeting and my attorney just emailed me stating : " Please note that I intend to send you a form letter indicating my intentions to withdraw from your case as soon as I fulfill my duties at the Section 341 meeting of creditors. Once the court strikes my appearance, you will need to seek another attorney to address any issues you have".

This is his response to an email i sent yesterday asking for an explanation for the lack of communication and professionalism I have encountered since hiring him. My repeated emails to him, as directed - updating my finances and asking specific chapter 7 questions such as finding employment, closing a checking account, and how to answer one of the trustee questions went unanswered let alone there being any acknowledgment of the reception of the emails.

I had previously addresses the lack of communication and asked to be treated with the expected standard of conduct for his profession over a month ago with no response or improvement. I tried to appeal to his humanity by indicating that I had spent a large some of money for his services and being kept in the dark let alone ignored was affecting my anxiety and irritability conditions.

Yesterday, less than a 4 business days before my 341 meeting, my therapist called my lawyer and his paralegal (?) assigned to my case said that they had emailed answers to my last email that i sent over 10 days ago, which is false. Indicating i had not received anything she said she would resend this email to me and my therapist right then. We did not receive this phantom email as i believe that she got caught in a lie as it still hasn't been sent to me even after i requested in writing that she please follow through, and now they are withdrawing I guess they are safe and the fact that she stated these things to me and my therapist is null and void.

The paralegal did however mistakenly emailed me instead of my lawyer saying that i was at my therapist and was "freaking out" about my unanswered questions. The email he was supposed to receive included the very email i sent them both 10 days ago. Moments later my lawyer then called my therapist and when i spoke to him he stated that he was unaware of my latest unanswered email sent 10 days ago, and knowing that he now had it, he still stated that he didn't. He finally did answered my questions in a smug and condescending manner as I had to read the email to him. And of course there was no apology for the lack of communication at such a late date or having to have my therapist get involved for his firm to do their job.

So, now that he is dumping me what can I do? Do I need an attorney for after the meeting of creditors? What questions should i ask my attorney while he is still my attorney in relation to what has happened and how it may affect the process post 341 etc.? Am I entitled to a partial refund? Is he required to specify where in the retainer contract it is written that he can withdraw as my attorney if i ask him to? Would filing a complaint/grievance give any satisfaction or is it just a hollow formality that favors the attorney?

Thanks for any help or feedback, I truly appreciate it.

B

 

[Ohiogal]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

Don't preview your post and try again.

 

[Silverplum]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MD

It is 2 business days before my 341 meeting and my attorney just emailed me stating : " Please note that I intend to send you a form letter indicating my intentions to withdraw from your case as soon as I fulfill my duties at the Section 341 meeting of creditors. Once the court strikes my appearance, you will need to seek another attorney to address any issues you have".

This is his response to an email i sent yesterday asking for an explanation for the lack of communication and professionalism I have encountered since hiring him. My repeated emails to him, as directed - updating my finances and asking specific chapter 7 questions such as finding employment, closing a checking account, and how to answer one of the trustee questions went unanswered let alone there being any acknowledgment of the reception of the emails.

I had previously addresses the lack of communication and asked to be treated with the expected standard of conduct for his profession over a month ago with no response or improvement. I tried to appeal to his humanity by indicating that I had spent a large some of money for his services and being kept in the dark let alone ignored was affecting my anxiety and irritability conditions.

Yesterday, less than a 4 business days before my 341 meeting, my therapist called my lawyer and his paralegal (?) assigned to my case said that they had emailed answers to my last email that i sent over 10 days ago, which is false. Indicating i had not received anything she said she would resend this email to me and my therapist right then. We did not receive this phantom email as i believe that she got caught in a lie as it still hasn't been sent to me even after i requested in writing that she please follow through, and now they are withdrawing I guess they are safe and the fact that she stated these things to me and my therapist is null and void.

The paralegal did however mistakenly emailed me instead of my lawyer saying that i was at my therapist and was "freaking out" about my unanswered questions. The email he was supposed to receive included the very email i sent them both 10 days ago. Moments later my lawyer then called my therapist and when i spoke to him he stated that he was unaware of my latest unanswered email sent 10 days ago, and knowing that he now had it, he still stated that he didn't. He finally did answered my questions in a smug and condescending manner as I had to read the email to him. And of course there was no apology for the lack of communication at such a late date or having to have my therapist get involved for his firm to do their job.

So, now that he is dumping me what can I do? Do I need an attorney for after the meeting of creditors? What questions should i ask my attorney while he is still my attorney in relation to what has happened and how it may affect the process post 341 etc.? Am I entitled to a partial refund? Is he required to specify where in the retainer contract it is written that he can withdraw as my attorney if i ask him to? Would filing a complaint/grievance give any satisfaction or is it just a hollow formality that favors the attorney?

Thanks for any help or feedback, I truly appreciate it.

B

You seem to be all over the place: you want to make him behave as you wish, you want to get your money back, you want him to keep working for you.

I'd have dropped you, too. Being paid does not mean your attorney has to take your 31 flavors of abuse.

 

[Proserpina]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MD

It is 2 business days before my 341 meeting and my attorney just emailed me stating : " Please note that I intend to send you a form letter indicating my intentions to withdraw from your case as soon as I fulfill my duties at the Section 341 meeting of creditors. Once the court strikes my appearance, you will need to seek another attorney to address any issues you have".

This is his response to an email i sent yesterday asking for an explanation for the lack of communication and professionalism I have encountered since hiring him. My repeated emails to him, as directed - updating my finances and asking specific chapter 7 questions such as finding employment, closing a checking account, and how to answer one of the trustee questions went unanswered let alone there being any acknowledgment of the reception of the emails.

What you think is important to the legal matter may not be what the attorney thinks is important.

I had previously addresses the lack of communication and asked to be treated with the expected standard of conduct for his profession over a month ago with no response or improvement. I tried to appeal to his humanity by indicating that I had spent a large some of money for his services and being kept in the dark let alone ignored was affecting my anxiety and irritability conditions.

Well, that was just plain old silly. I believe what you did is known as "whining".

Yesterday, less than a 4 business days before my 341 meeting, my therapist called my lawyer and his paralegal (?) assigned to my case said that they had emailed answers to my last email that i sent over 10 days ago, which is false. Indicating i had not received anything she said she would resend this email to me and my therapist right then. We did not receive this phantom email as i believe that she got caught in a lie as it still hasn't been sent to me even after i requested in writing that she please follow through, and now they are withdrawing I guess they are safe and the fact that she stated these things to me and my therapist is null and void.

It doesn't occur to you that there may have been a legitimate reason behind that? I'm astonished they even acknowledged the therapist's existence.

The paralegal did however mistakenly emailed me instead of my lawyer saying that i was at my therapist and was "freaking out" about my unanswered questions.

But..you were freaking out. What's the issue?

The email he was supposed to receive included the very email i sent them both 10 days ago. Moments later my lawyer then called my therapist and when i spoke to him he stated that he was unaware of my latest unanswered email sent 10 days ago, and knowing that he now had it, he still stated that he didn't. He finally did answered my questions in a smug and condescending manner as I had to read the email to him. And of course there was no apology for the lack of communication at such a late date or having to have my therapist get involved for his firm to do their job.

I'm sure he appreciated that.

So, now that he is dumping me what can I do? Do I need an attorney for after the meeting of creditors? What questions should i ask my attorney while he is still my attorney in relation to what has happened and how it may affect the process post 341 etc.? Am I entitled to a partial refund? Is he required to specify where in the retainer contract it is written that he can withdraw as my attorney if i ask him to? Would filing a complaint/grievance give any satisfaction or is it just a hollow formality that favors the attorney?

Thanks for any help or feedback, I truly appreciate it.

B

The important stuff happens before and during the 341 meeting.

If everything is on the up and up, you should be fine.

I heavily doubt you're entitled to a refund. No, he's not obliged to tell you why he's dumping you (he's a bit like a boyfriend in that respect).

But overall - come on, you're virtually the poster child for the client every attorney wants to dump.

 

[Ohiogal]

Interestingly I had several clients who griped about my not replying to their email in the past three weeks. I hadn't gotten them. Why? Because time warner (road runner) had issues and some of my email was being delivered by pony express (front page news in my state -- only affected 10% of customers but I was one of the "lucky" ones). I am still even now getting email that was sent a week or two ago. It is straggling in. Allegedly the problem is fixed but I still can't rely on it. I answered emails when I got them (if I got them). Some emails I never got until after my client called to throw a tantrum that I hadn't answered it. When I explained that I had time warner and I can't control when it is delivered, most of them settled down. The very few who didn't were told that a) they could treat me respectfully, b) they could comprehend that this issue had been all over the news, and c) I have no issue answering questions when I am actually asked but I am not a mind reader and if they didn't chill, they would need new counsel. Of course I have a high tolerance for emotional nonsense since I do custody/juvenile work. Most of my clients act like juveniles at times. Bankruptcy is not a high emotion area of law and deals with facts and figures. I can understand this attorney dropping OP.

 

[bigun]

The vast majority of chapter 7's are pretty routine and if you look closely at the orginal fee agreement it likely reads that once the 341 meeting is finished any additional services will require more money.

Is there some reason to believe that your bk is overly complicated and may have some problems? If not, the 341 should last less than 5 minutes and you're on your way.The object of the execrise is a discharge. You get that and your lawyer did his/her job.