Lawyer Malpractice...?

[sbrennan007]

Illinois

In January we hired a lawyer for what should have been a simple modification to child support along with a request that the ex pay the 16 yr olds insurance as we were going to be buying a car for her. My fiance has been receiving $270.00 per month when it should have been $1300.00 per month.

The lawyer took the case, we paid a $1000 retainer and he filed the petition with the opposing counsel. During this time, we tried on numerous occasions to get a status on where the case was, everytime was placed a call we always got a call back from one of the office staff, but never our lawyer (they would always say he was too busy with other cases). As a result of this, he continued the case 3 times in court for no apparent reason (all information was received from her ex on financials etc...).

Finally the court date comes up and he sent one of his office staff to court to represent us, who knew absolutly nothing about the case whatsoever. We had asked for back payments for the past several years on the difference but only got it retroactive for 2 months, and we asked for support of $100.00 per month to cover insurance for the 16 yr old driver (this was never even discussed in court) and we asked for lawyers fees and this either was never discussed. The office staff person he sent called us from the court house to tell us what was being proposed and asked what we thought of it. She then proceeded to tell us that she thought it was "crap". This was the person that he sent to represent our case.

After the court date, we received a letter, again from the office staff regarding what was agreed upon in court and that payments with the new amount should start on 05/26/06.

Well today, almost 2 months later, we contacted the lawyers office (again getting a staff member) and came to find out that the lawyer never submitted the correct forms / paperwork in the court to be sent to his employer. The office staff member stated that the lawyer would be going back to court next week to submit this.

At this point, we are out an additional over $1000 from what she has been receiving to what was ordered in court almost 2 months ago.

We feel that this lawyer mishandeled this case from the beginning all the way through to the end, and still to the day, almost 2 months later still has not been properly resolved. Of course in addition to this, we have received bills for almost another $2000.00 in lawyer fees due to his continuing the cases and "review" of documentation, none of which was discussed in court as he did not represent us and sent another person who knew nothing of the case. We strongly feel that if he had handeld the case himself (as he had all our supporting information etc...) that he could have represented us better in court.

We feel as though we have already paid $1000.00, have bills from them for an additional $2000.00 and have received nothing!

- What if any recourse do we have at this point?
- How do we collect on the additional lost $1000.00 since the paperwork was not filed correctly after the judgement was entered?
- Is this a case for a malpractice lawyer as well feel this was mishandeled from the start?

We obvisously did not seek to have this happen as we hired a lawyer in good faith to do a job for us, but this is what we are left with.

Thank you.

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by sbrennan007

Illinois

In January we hired a lawyer for what should have been a simple modification to child support along with a request that the ex pay the 16 yr olds insurance as we were going to be buying a car for her. My fiance has been receiving $270.00 per month when it should have been $1300.00 per month.

The lawyer took the case, we paid a $1000 retainer and he filed the petition with the opposing counsel. During this time, we tried on numerous occasions to get a status on where the case was, everytime was placed a call we always got a call back from one of the office staff, but never our lawyer (they would always say he was too busy with other cases). As a result of this, he continued the case 3 times in court for no apparent reason (all information was received from her ex on financials etc...).

Finally the court date comes up and he sent one of his office staff to court to represent us, who knew absolutly nothing about the case whatsoever. We had asked for back payments for the past several years on the difference but only got it retroactive for 2 months, and we asked for support of $100.00 per month to cover insurance for the 16 yr old driver (this was never even discussed in court) and we asked for lawyers fees and this either was never discussed. The office staff person he sent called us from the court house to tell us what was being proposed and asked what we thought of it. She then proceeded to tell us that she thought it was "crap". This was the person that he sent to represent our case.

After the court date, we received a letter, again from the office staff regarding what was agreed upon in court and that payments with the new amount should start on 05/26/06.

Well today, almost 2 months later, we contacted the lawyers office (again getting a staff member) and came to find out that the lawyer never submitted the correct forms / paperwork in the court to be sent to his employer. The office staff member stated that the lawyer would be going back to court next week to submit this.

At this point, we are out an additional over $1000 from what she has been receiving to what was ordered in court almost 2 months ago.

We feel that this lawyer mishandeled this case from the beginning all the way through to the end, and still to the day, almost 2 months later still has not been properly resolved. Of course in addition to this, we have received bills for almost another $2000.00 in lawyer fees due to his continuing the cases and "review" of documentation, none of which was discussed in court as he did not represent us and sent another person who knew nothing of the case. We strongly feel that if he had handeld the case himself (as he had all our supporting information etc...) that he could have represented us better in court.

We feel as though we have already paid $1000.00, have bills from them for an additional $2000.00 and have received nothing!

- What if any recourse do we have at this point?
- How do we collect on the additional lost $1000.00 since the paperwork was not filed correctly after the judgement was entered?
- Is this a case for a malpractice lawyer as well feel this was mishandeled from the start?

We obvisously did not seek to have this happen as we hired a lawyer in good faith to do a job for us, but this is what we are left with.

Thank you.

File a complaint with the state bar association's disciplinary committee.