RE: Bar Association Reporting
This is a guardianship case. My son received a settlement from the Vaccine Compensation program, after being hurt by a vaccine as a baby. I was never told by the initial lawyer who set up the guardianship that I was supposed to report back to the court on how the money was to be spent, and all the court papers stipulated the money was to be used for the care of the child, not what kind of care. Just to clarify something- I am a loving, dedicated mother who has always put the needs of my children, especially the special needs child, first and foremost in everything. No one has ever claimed I did not take proper care of this child. His care has always cost more than the guardianship money I received. But a lot of the care was paid for in cash, especially his tutors, who do not want to claim their side job of tutoring my son, and I have no proof of most of it. My ex husband knew all that. He came after me for the guardianship after the divorce, as a way to harass me. The lawyer I hired to defend me lied from day one about what to expect, her experience (she claimed to have done dozens of similar cases, just to admit in court 1.5 years into this that this was a learning experience for her), she never involved me in any of the decisions, and ever placed a motion that completely ruined this case for me, opposite of what I told her I wanted her argument to be, on a day she conveniently forgot to tell me she had changed the court time, making it impossible for me to be present to stop her from placing that motion. This motion gave our local court jurisdiction over the decision of how my son’s guardianship was supposed to be used, since the federal papers never stipulated any further than “to the care of the child”. At that point in the case, I asked my then lawyer to teach me how to go ahead defending myself, and she not only threatened me, she also played the concerned woman card, about how she couldn’t abandon me to my harassing ex husband and a court that hates people representing themselves, and would always rule against me if I did, and she then told me she would take $50.00 a month as payment for the rest of her life if that’s what it took for me not to fire her. She hit me with motions to get a lien against me when I questioned her experience and misrepresentation, without any warning. My lawyer also never provided me with court papers, and now wants to charge me $0.36 a copy, plus make me pay for all the evidence and court video tapes I already paid for. As of right now, I owe her about $13,000, and I owe the guardianship over $20,000, I've already paid this lawyer thousands of dollars, and I’m left representing myself without the proper documents she refuses to provide me. Again, I’m a hard working mother who gets minimum if any child support, and can’t afford any of this. I’m also a Real Estate agent, and both my ex husband and this lawyer have threatened to get a judgment against me so they can came after my license, which is mine and my children’s livelihood. Any suggestions on how to go about suing this lawyer? I obviously can’t afford another lawyer now.
