Is it ethical to fail to make an exception to the refund clause considering my circumstances?

Generally retainers are refundable minus the cost of any work that attorney has done including fielding telephone calls. Write the attorney a letter and request a billing for all work completed on your case and a copy of your file. If no work has been done, contact your state bar association to review your options.

You may with to contact the bar association and report you have a fee dispute. They have a process that probably can be used to help resolve your circumstance.

Just calling a fee "nonrefundable" doesn't necessarily make it so. Under California law, except for a true retainer, when the attorney's employment is terminated, the attorney must provide an accounting for the fee you paid th attorney and promptly refund any unearned portion of the fee. A "true retainer" is a fee paid to an attorney to ensure that the attorney will be available for a specific period of time or for a specific matter. As your agreement requires the attorney to do more than just be available, it is not a true retainer. You should write to the attorney to request that the attorney provide you with an accounting for the fees paid by you to him and demand that all unearned portion of the fee be repaid to you. If you don't receive an accounting and refund, or the accounting and refund you believe is insufficient (for eample it doesn't explain how the attorney determine the amount to keep or the reason for keeping the amount is set forth as nonrefundable pursuant to your fee agreement, you may want contact the State Bar for assistance. If you do receive an accounting, but only a partial refund, you may want to request that the issue as to the fee of the attorney be resolved through the fee arbitration program of your county's bar association or, if it does not have one, the State Bar fee arbitration program. While such programs are intended to be low cost alternatives to resolving fee disputes, you will have to determine if it makes sense to proceed with fee arbitration in light of the time requirements and costs of using the fee arbitration.

I have a similar clause in my agreement based on the fact that there is legal advice and preparation involved in any case as soon as the fee is received and advice is provided.

Contracts are not about ethics unless the contract asks you to do something illegal. Sounds like you expect everyone to cut you a break because you are special.

I doubt that no refund clause is ethical under your state bar rules, but to know for sure, the bar would need to review the agreement after you make a complaint. To be fair, your attorney has probably undertaken some work and is entitled to retain a portion of the fee you paid. Remember, all bankruptcy clients are in financial straits and have very sympathetic stories. Nevertheless, attorneys are still entitled to be paid for their time, assuming they provide quality ethical representation. In Wisconsin, fee disputes can be referred to an arbitrator. Check for a similar service in your state. Best wishes.

There is no legal or ethical failure on the part of the attorney, it was your agreement and contract with him. Perhaps he might consider some consideration if it make economic sense.