My lawyers blunder and now we go to court...should I fire him?

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? New York

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? New York

I retained a lawyer in my divorce who has done the following:

1. informed the other side that I'd retained him and that we were going to provide our response to the divorce papers filed by my husband.

2. told me the procedure was that we'd go back and forth a bit, negotiate, and if we couldn't agree on things we'd go to court at which time I'd have to complete a net worth statement.

3. drafts a response that he sends me. I receive it and told his secretary that I would reply with corrections in 2 weeks since I had a trip planned. She said she'd call me if there were any problems with that.

4. On the Monday back, she calls to tell me that she's sending me a net worth statement to complete and I can return that with the draft.

5. On Thursday afternoon, she leaves me a message that she needs EVERYTHING by Monday morning in order to have it all ready for Wednesday's court date!!!

6. On Friday, when I finally get the lawyer to speak to me I asked him what had happend, why did we have a court date? why I was being left a message about a court date with only a few days notice? nothing in the mail. Why was I completing a net worth statement now?? we'd not negotiated.

Apart from yelling at me and talking over me, it became clear that his office never kept the other side abreast of things and they felt we'd not responded so my husband's lawyer took it to the court.

I feel my lawyer didn't inform me of the urgency of the draft we were doing, he didn't inform the other side of our schedule, he's made me look bad now in the eyes of the court, he didn't properly inform me of a pending court date, and I think he wants the net worth statement just to see how much he can screw me for...this was all supposed to happen OUTSIDE of court!

His negligence is costing me how I look to the court.

Him not telling me of the urgency involved and/or informing the other side that we needed time, caused the other side to jump the gun and take this all to court.

I don't know what to do. I want to just fire him and find a more professional office.
ANY HELP ANYONE????

[vrzirn]

At this point you had better sit down and fill out all the documents and your net worth statement. Take your tanned self down to the courthouse and behave like a lady. Let the attorney explain the "misunderstanding" to the judge.
You need that lawyer and changing now will only cost you more. It is partially your responsibility for this fiasco. It will not help if you antagonize him.

loopster,
if you feel your lawyer is not doing the job, let him or her go now. you must go with your gut feeling on this, trust me i know. if your lawyer is not doing the job that you know is right; you will pay; for a very long tme. best of luck to you!