attorney not fufulling my requests

[Diane510]

What is the name of your state? pennsylvania

back in february i filed for divorce. i specifically explained to my attorney that i wanted nothing out of this divorce except my bank account. my reason for this was that although i did not want to be married any longer to my husband - i still did love him and he financially could not afford to pay me for half of everything we owned without selling everything that he worked for. i was willing to start my life over with what i had in my own account.
my attorney said he didnt like to do business that way but i assured him that this is exactly what i wanted.

well, my husband received the divorce papers and i read them over and low and behold, it stated that i wanted half of everything. my husband received these papers in april and i called the attorney back and he of course was on vacation again, so i explained everything to the receptionist and she assured me that she would give him the message to change the papers to what i originally told him i wanted and as of today my husband has still not received new papers filed to him.

can i fire my attorney and get my money back for him not doing what i told him to do or at lease get some of it back and find a new attorney?

 

[Boxcarbill]

You can fire your attorney and you can get back whatever remains of unearned attorney's fees from your retainer together with an itemized statement of the earned fees.

You get too excited. Divorce petitions are just that--petitions. What is not requested in the petition cannot be gotten. But one can give up everything regardless of what they asked for in the petition. It is the decree or order which decides who gets what. So you are jumping the gun. After the requisite time period has lapsed so that it is time to draft the final decree, your attorney needs to get you to come into the office and have you sign off on a statement that he has advised you of your rights in the marital property, including equities in real property, retirement accounts, etc. and that you have advised him that you do not wish to pursue any of those. This is to protect him from a malpractice case because clients who "all they want is out of the marriage," have a way of coming back to haunt their attorney a few years down the road when passion has cooled and reason has returned. That's when they start looking for someone to blame as to why they have nothing out of the marriage and that blame falls on their attorney. So when he gets your message, if he has much experience in family law, he will probable be more than willing to accommodate you in filing either a motion to withdraw as attorney of record or a motion for substitution of counsel, whichever you would prefer.