QUESTION
Am I entitled to a refund if my attorney gave me the wrong information at my consultation?
Asked on Oct 31st, 2011 on Bankruptcy - Indiana
More details to this question:
I met with a bankruptcy attorney to file a Chapter 13. At the consultation he told me that I would be paying back at 10% instead of 100%. He also told me that I would be paying anywhere from three to four hundred bucks a month. Based on what he told me, I decided to go ahead and file. I gave him $750.00 to start. The day of my signing, I walk in and he says "I have bad news". "My payments are now going to be $1060 a month and I have to pay back at 100%". At the consultation, I had all the paper work that he requested to map out the formula so he had all of my information. Just don't know how he could make a mistake like this. Needless to say, I decided not to go through with it but now he wants to keep $500 bucks of my money (he says for "his time") and refund to me $250.00 when no filing was done at all. He prepared the document for filing but that was it. Is it right for him to keep my money like this when in fact he was the person that was way off in determining my estimated monthly payments? Just doesn't seem fair to me when I only decided to go with this thing from the information that he gave me at the consultation and was affordable to me.
1 ANSWER
You need to think of it like this to better understand the situation. Obviously, the repayment cannot be determined accurately until documents are provided (pay advices, budget, etc.). The lawyer has to put work into the case to determine this payment. Your decision not to go forward has nothing to do with the lawyer's work in calculating and drafting the paperwork, so he is certainly entitled to the earned fees. Without documentation and information regarding equity, assets and income, it is quite difficult to nail down an absolute number at the initial consultation.
Answered on Nov 02nd, 2011 at 9:22 PM