What can we do if our attorney failed to convert our file to a chapter 7 bankruptcy?

If he fails to come through and the case remains dismissed, you can report him to the arm of the state's lawyer regulation responsible for handling ethics violations. In Wisconsin, that's the Office of Lawyer regulation. I do occasionally (once in a blue moon) read about lawyers who get disciplined by the OLR for just such a thing as has happened to you here. Good luck!

The question is whether the bank foreclosed when the case was dismissed. If not you can refile a chapter 7 or reopen the ch 13 and convert to ch7.

If a case is dismissed before the motion to convert to Chapter 7 is filed, it is possible to file a Motion to Vacate the dismissal. Your attorney would have to explain in the motion the reasons why the the conversion or a request for more time were not filed in a timely manner. The court may deny this motion. You could file a new case as a Chapter 7; however, this would be more expensive that a Chapter 7. As it seems to be your attorney's fault the conversion was not filed, he should offer to make up this difference for you in my opinion. You should be aware however that some things were required of you in order to convert the case payment of filing fees and attorneys' fees, new budget and proof of income, recent tax returns and lists of new creditors. Finally, you need to read and approve the amendments to be filed with the motion. If these things were requested and not provided this would be why the conversion was not filed. You mention you are about to lose your home. This is not likely a result of failure to convert your case to a Chapter 7. If you were saving your home via the 13 (that is making payments on mortgage arrears through the plan) and planned to convert to a Chapter 7, you should have been prepared to lose your home or to immediately come up with the cash to bring the mortgage current. Chapter 7 does NOT help you save your home from foreclosure. I suggest you call your attorney for an appointment to sit down immediately and discuss the situation and to figure out how best to proceed. If you do not get an immediate appointment, start calling other attorneys immediately.

No one here has seen the docket to know what can or should be done. See a local attorney for a 2nd opinion. They'll need to see the court docket (via Pacer) to give you an answer.

Converting to a chapter 7 will not save your home.

Things do happen. However, it is fairly easy to have the case re-instated and converted. Or you could simply refile as a Chapter 7.

The attorney can move to reopen the case to convert it to Chapter 7 or file Chapter 7 and move to extend the automatic stay which would expire in 30 days after filing the Chapter 7 case (assuming you have filed only one bankruptcy case only in the past 12 months). Once the case is reopened and converted or a Chapter 7 case filed the automatic stay will be in effect again. However, the automatic stay in a Chapter 7 case is good only until 60 days after the meeting of creditors (so a total of about 90 days approximately). Therefore, the bank can sell your home after the automatic of stay expires in the Chapter 7 case or before if the bank files a motion for relief of stay that is granted. The problem would be if the house is sold before the case is reopened or a Chapter 7 case is filed. The attorney needs to reopen the case or file the Chapter 7 case urgently and then there should be no problem. However, you are going to lose the house anyway since the automatic stay is not in effect in either case more than 90 days after your convert or file the Chapter 7 case. It is a big deal but the attorney can take care of the problem so long as he takes quick action to have the automatic stay imposed again. You can tell the creditors that you are represented by an attorney and under federal and California law they are not supposed to contact you if you are represented by a lawyer even if no bankruptcy case is pending. However, the creditors are free to sue you if there is no automatic stay in effect but probably will not do it if they are told that you will be refiling soon.

Re-opening/Re-filing of cases is common. Generally, a case can be re-filed, if the re-filing is not in bad faith.

It might be possible to get the case reinstated. It depends on the circumstances. Otherwise, you may be able to file a new case under chapter 7. I don't see how it makes a difference in keeping your home.

If your chapter 13 was dismissed it is easy to file a chapter 7 petition. Perhaps your attorney will give you a break on fees. Usually when a chapter 13 is converted to chapter 7 there are legal fees. Sometimes the legal fees for conversion are substantially less than that those for a new chapter filing.