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Original Retainer Agreement Revision

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Anthony20

Junior Member
Illinois

My lawyer recently revised my families original retainer agreement, and added this at the end of it:

"Forbankruptcy cases only: any additional fees beyondthose described above as the LawFirm's initial fee, will be invoiced, applied for by motion, and/or properly documented in an amended AttorneyCompensation Statement according to law and local rules of the BankruptcyCourt."​

He said that the addition is due to some new local rule(s).

1.) What purpose does adding the above serve? Is this an attempt to potentially extract more money from us? Or should I just sign the revised agreement, as everything else on said agreement is the same.

2.) Out of curiosity, am I bound to sign it? Meaning, if I don't, do they have a right not to follow through with my families bankruptcy case?

3.) Should I ask him which new rule/law requires this new revision? Or, again, is that not necessary?

Just trying to be cautious here, so any opinions/advice/comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 


This is from the Norther District of Illinois. If you are in a different District in Illinois the below requirement may not apply but there is probably a similar “local rule”:

Your attorney is required to utilize a fee agreement that conforms with the local rule. The court calls it a “Court-Approved Retention Agreement”. The requirements of what must be contained in the fee agreement are located at:

http://www.ilnb.uscourts.gov/forms/Local_Forms/Ch13_Model_Retention-Agreement2011.pdf


The Court is about to pass a local rule change that will require attorneys to attach a copy of the fee agreement to the required Rule 2016(b) statement. The proposed rule change is as follows and may or may not apply in your case.

Proposed Local Rule 2016-1

Every agreement between a debtor and an attorney for the debtor must be in the form of a written document signed by the debtor and the attorney. Agreements subject to ths rule include, but are not limited to, the Court-Approved Retention Agreement, other fee or expense agreements, wage assignments, and security agreements of all kinds. Each such agreement must be attached to the statement that must be filed under Fed. R. Bankr. P. 2016(b) in all bankruptcy cases. Any agreement entered into after the filing of the statement under rule 2016(b) must be filed as a supplement to that statement within 14 days of the date the agreement is entered into.

_____________________________

Sounds like your attorney is beginning the process of making sure all of his retainer agreements comply with the local rules. I doubt this affects your relationship with him in any way.

Des.

PS: I think you will need to cut and past the link
 

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