Could/Should I Pursue This?

[NowWhat10000]

What is the name of your state? California

I will try to keep this simple...sorry it's so long. But is's a good read.

Last summer, I was in a Domestic Violence shelter and per the advice of their legal advocate (not an attorney/paralegal or law student), hired an attorney she recommended. She drove me to his office for the first meeting and we discussed my case. He said he could do the restraining order and start the divorce for 3,500.00. I had a family member put it on their credit card, and have a copy of that receipt.

He said this would be a long process, at least two years, and I should expect to pay more. I told him I didn't have any money, it would have to come from my family. He never quoted an hourly rate, never gave me a fee schedule, I never signed anything, he never quoted a ballpark figure. I was extremly distressed and should have researched this more, but I was not at my best. I found out much later the advocate had only met him three weeks earlier; he was not a family law specialist.

A couple of weeks later I went to his office to sign the declaration for the Restraining Order. It seemed oddly worded to me, and left out the most recent episodes of abuse. I asked him about this, and he said he knew what he was doing and just sign it. I mentioned my concern about getting the permanent order, as people at the shelter told me they were harder to get than the preliminary emergency orders He said this was exactly wrong, it was the other way around, and not to listen to anyone else.

At the hearing for the "permanent" order, we got bounced from courtroom to courtroom due to heavy caseloads. A retired judge at another location was proposed. My attorney said he didn't think he would be good for this case, but we had to get this heard today as he had other cases and he didn't want to "file paper" against this guy or it would kill his career. We saw this judge and the RO was denied. FWIW, I have since learned that this judge's reputation is that he very rarely grants these orders.

We also had a court date to get emergency child support. I filled out and returned the Income Expense Declaration to my attorney. Since I was now on public assistance, he notified me it would be changed to a different venue. He told me it actually would be better for me, as I would have both him and a DA there to argue my case, and it would make my (quite well-off) ex look very bad.

A month later, we were in court again for custody. The judge made a temporary custody order and ordered my ex to pay 5,000.00 to my attorney. My attorney said he would be in touch about the child support hearing. This was the last time I saw or spoke to him, although I did get a couple of letters that month regarding the guardian ad litem for my son.

I waited a month or so to hear about the support hearing, and finally called the office. The paralegal told me the attorney would not be going to court since the DA would be handling it; there was no court date at all. I was extremly upset and crying, asking her why hadn't anyone told me. She had no answer for that.

One week later, I got a letter and invoice from their office. It stated that since they had been unable to reach me by phone, the bill was now due in full. It listed all of the charges and seems accurate. However, it deducted the money that had been paid by credit card, but the amount was off (short) by $600.00.

Ten days after that, I received a letter from a collection agency for the amount in full. A few days after that, the attorney sent paperwork to remove himself from the case.

I was now without representation, and up against my extremly pissed off husband and his attorney who was playing hardball. After eight months of searching high and low, I finally found an attorney to take my case pro bono. (Many had turned it down because it was such a drawn out mess, and my ex has the resources to keep it going).

Two attorneys who looked at all my paperwork urged me to file a complaint. Another woman from the shelter, who also had hired this guy, was recently told the same thing. I just wonder how much of a case I really have.

The points brought up were the lack of a fee schedule, the weirdness re: the wording of the declaration for the RO and the consequences, the comments about the judge, not contacting me about moving forward on child support and alimony, discussing my case with another client, and the detriment to my son due to the temporary custody order not being resolved. And since I was left high and dry and nothing was filed, I went from being a SAHM for eight years to working and going to school (good things, I realize) which, however, has changed my status in regards to alimony and child support.

If you've read this far, thank you very much! I don't want to file a frivolous complaint, and hope that an outsider can give me an objective opinion. I don't want this to happen to any other women...hard enough to leave everything you own behind and start over, never mind having an incompetent attorney create more of a mess.