What is the name of your state? Ohio
I paid this lawyer $1000 in June '05 to represent me in a very simple divorce. The ex is in prison for life, we have no children and no assets. Nothing to contest. We scheduled a dissolution for Oct 31, and because the jail would not bring him to court, we had to dismiss it (my lawyer warned me this could be a problem, but said if that happened, it would only cost me another filing fee as he had already prepared the paperwork both ways).
At this time his assistant informed me that we should have filed in my county of residence and that is what we would do for the divorce. My lawyer would not drive that far, but said he would make the necessary arrangements to have another attorney appear on my behalf out of the money I had paid him. I dropped off the filing fee the end of that week. I asked the assistant to call and make sure the filing fee was correct because it is not easy for me to get to the office. She refused. She said the paperwork would be filed with the court immediately.
A week and a half later, I was informed the filing fee was an additional $50. I paid that immediately. Again, she said the paperwork would be filed immediately. I called the clerk of courts every few days for a couple weeks, asking if my case had been assigned. Finally after about three weeks, I called my lawyer's office and was told that the court had sent the paperwork back a couple weeks previous because the filing fee was an additional $100. They never bothered to call me. They have all of my numbers. I was mad that they couldn't have verified this the first two times, but said I would sent the $100. Lawyer said they would refile the paperwork that day. They did.
Court was scheuled for Feb 1st, 2006. I showed up, met the other lawyer. This lawyer informed me that my ex had been served at the wrong address and we could not proceed. She also said that the paperwork filed was extremely inadequate and did nothing to protect me from his debts. She said she would send my lawyer a fax that day. asking him to sign off the case and that she would fix the papers, re-serve my ex, and also send my ex a letter asking him to say when he got served the first time (Jan 3rd according to my conversation with him, it just wasn't official since it had to be forwarded) and if he signed the waiver, we wouldn't have to wait another 42 days (time required by ohio to wait after defendant has been served). She was willing to do all of this without charging me because she felt I had been overcharged and poorly represented by the other lawyer.
My new lawyer never got an answer from my old lawyer and Feb 17th I got a copy of a letter she sent my old lawyer stating her hands were tied since he refused to respond and that she was closing her file on me and I should contact my old lawyer to proceed.
I called old lawyer at 7 pm on Feb 17th and told him to either fix this on Monday, and call me to tell me the status or refund my money and I will hire another attorney to do it. He said he sent the requested signed paper to the second attorney earlier this week. I said it should have been sent 17 days ago, not this week. He said the money I paid him has been used and that there is nothing to refund. I paid for a simple divorce, do I have to pay him for being incompetant and lazy?
What are my options here if he doens't fix this?
I paid this lawyer $1000 in June '05 to represent me in a very simple divorce. The ex is in prison for life, we have no children and no assets. Nothing to contest. We scheduled a dissolution for Oct 31, and because the jail would not bring him to court, we had to dismiss it (my lawyer warned me this could be a problem, but said if that happened, it would only cost me another filing fee as he had already prepared the paperwork both ways).
At this time his assistant informed me that we should have filed in my county of residence and that is what we would do for the divorce. My lawyer would not drive that far, but said he would make the necessary arrangements to have another attorney appear on my behalf out of the money I had paid him. I dropped off the filing fee the end of that week. I asked the assistant to call and make sure the filing fee was correct because it is not easy for me to get to the office. She refused. She said the paperwork would be filed with the court immediately.
A week and a half later, I was informed the filing fee was an additional $50. I paid that immediately. Again, she said the paperwork would be filed immediately. I called the clerk of courts every few days for a couple weeks, asking if my case had been assigned. Finally after about three weeks, I called my lawyer's office and was told that the court had sent the paperwork back a couple weeks previous because the filing fee was an additional $100. They never bothered to call me. They have all of my numbers. I was mad that they couldn't have verified this the first two times, but said I would sent the $100. Lawyer said they would refile the paperwork that day. They did.
Court was scheuled for Feb 1st, 2006. I showed up, met the other lawyer. This lawyer informed me that my ex had been served at the wrong address and we could not proceed. She also said that the paperwork filed was extremely inadequate and did nothing to protect me from his debts. She said she would send my lawyer a fax that day. asking him to sign off the case and that she would fix the papers, re-serve my ex, and also send my ex a letter asking him to say when he got served the first time (Jan 3rd according to my conversation with him, it just wasn't official since it had to be forwarded) and if he signed the waiver, we wouldn't have to wait another 42 days (time required by ohio to wait after defendant has been served). She was willing to do all of this without charging me because she felt I had been overcharged and poorly represented by the other lawyer.
My new lawyer never got an answer from my old lawyer and Feb 17th I got a copy of a letter she sent my old lawyer stating her hands were tied since he refused to respond and that she was closing her file on me and I should contact my old lawyer to proceed.
I called old lawyer at 7 pm on Feb 17th and told him to either fix this on Monday, and call me to tell me the status or refund my money and I will hire another attorney to do it. He said he sent the requested signed paper to the second attorney earlier this week. I said it should have been sent 17 days ago, not this week. He said the money I paid him has been used and that there is nothing to refund. I paid for a simple divorce, do I have to pay him for being incompetant and lazy?
What are my options here if he doens't fix this?
