HAD TO FIRE MY LAWYER – CAN YOU RELATE?

[How to communicate after a contentious divorce...]

  Sorry this is so long, but I'm overwhelmed with frustration and disappointment with my first experience using a lawyer.  Thanks in advance for anyone who takes the time to read it and offer some support.

I’m currently involved in a nonsensical trust dispute with my uBPD sister.  We are both co-trustees of our now deceased parent’s trust/estate.  My sister has had her issues and temperament problems, over the years.  She emerged with clear BPD traits of splitting, projection and rages, when our parent’s health began to fail and has continued. She painted me black early on. I have been the victim of her rages and have caught her in lies
 
It has been difficult, but we made it through the sale of our parents house, and have distributed approx. 75% of the assets among the two of us.  At that point, my sister took a position that she had to have 50% of the remaining money (prior to DOD appraisal on the house, trust taxes and settlement of remaining trust expenses) She acquired a lawyer, who wrote a series of demand letters.  Initially, I responded on my own behalf.  After my sister did some nefarious things in regard to the trust tax return, I acquired my own lawyer.  I had hoped that, if I acquired a lawyer, I have a better advantage.  I never anticipated I'd have the opposite situation

I had to fire my lawyer this week.  Hopefully, when I get my remaining retainer back, I will have lost just under $3,000 and just put it behind me. I plan to write my own letter to my sister's lawyer this week, and resume acting on my own behalf.

I probably won’t pursue any legal action, but I believe my lawyer’s behavior may qualify as malpractice.  There was a failure to follow instructions (per a written report/outline I provided that addressed 5 issues that I wanted addressed).  Additionally, it appears as if my lawyer has confused me with another client and has had either phone conversations or email exchanges with opposing council, and has conveyed erroneous information.

I was required to give my lawyer a retainer. My expectations were to have my lawyer write a demand letter to address 5 issues I detailed out in a report (report was very clear & had a table of contents and clear numbering of issues), I did not expect my lawyer to have conversations with the other side until after we got a response from the letter. 

My lawyer never checked her understanding on anything.  Either she didn't read my report, or ignored it.  Initially, I had a brief in-office meeting with the owning member of the firm.  This was a rather rushed meeting and I was handed off to the newest member of the firm (2nd year in practice).

After examining the line items on my 2nd bill, I inquired about getting copied on all documentation regarding my case.  My lawyer held back on providing me the letter she sent to opposing council.  I had to ask her 3 times,  before I was copied on the letter she wrote. Finally, she emailed me a copy. By nature of the billings, I'll likely get billed for an hours worth of her time, just to get this copy (at $350/hr?)

The letter my lawyer wrote addressed one issue erroneously, the 2nd issue was only partially addressed.  Three other issues were not mentioned.

The response letter from opposing council had false information in it.  It alluded to a conversation between lawyers, with a false statement that I agreed that my sister would take on the task of having the trust tax returns done. The truth is that I was tasked to do the tax return.  My sister had all mail from my parents forwarded to her home address.  She did not share any documents she had relevant to taxes.  She  fought against and refused to cosign a reimbursement check for the DOD Appraisal I paid for with my own money.  Subsequently, she proceeded to triangulate with the CPA, acquire a copy of the the DOD appraisal by nefarious means, and had the taxes done.

Minimally, my sister's antics in regard to the DOD appraisal are unethical.  I'm wondering if the situation could be considered to be theft? I paid for the report with personal money.  My co-trustee sister refused to cosign a check to pay me for it.  I did not give anyone a copy of the appraisal, but it appears as if the CPA triangulated with my sister and the appraiser to get a copy.  The CPA knew the appraiser I used.  There is a longer story about my sister's antics relevant to the DOD appraisal, but I'll hold back.  The

There was an additional false statement in the letter that said my sister and I had a phone conversation. Nope, my only interaction with her has been a series of registered letters. 

I’m writing this partially to vent, but to also seek some feedback from others with problem lawyers.  Has anyone else had such a bad experience with a lawyer? Vision is always better in hindsight.  On the day I wrote a termination letter to my lawyer, I stumbled upon some Yelp reviews for the law firm I used.  The average review was 2.5 out of 5 and minimally, others shared my experience of excessive billing.  Wish I found that review before I hired  this lawyer.  I thought that their offer of a brief initial interview was a plus, but looks like they they made that money back several times over, by excessively billing in other ways.  I'm billed for inquiring about the nature of billing items.  Then, the lawyer can't explain the nature of  a conversation with opposing council (email or TC?).  I guess it would be less of an issue, if she represented my interest in an accurate manner.

I wouldn’t feel so robbed of my money, if my lawyer had billed me for conversations to check her understanding and perhaps had me preview the letter she sent, before she sent it.  The one phone conversation I had with my lawyer, was rather alarming, as she couldn’t relate to the facts of my case and her comments appeared to relate to a different client.

The owning partner of my law firm agreed to terminate our client/lawyer relationship.  He commented in a email that my sister will likely proceed with filing a court petition soon.  I think she may try to get me removed as co-trustee.  I have a very detailed trail of registered mail to my sister.  I have no doubt that my sister's lawyer is missing essential information.  In view of the entirety of her actions, I can't imagine a judge giving her what she wants. 

[Naughty Nibbler]

  Sorry this is so long, but I'm overwhelmed with frustration and disappointment with my first experience using a lawyer.  Thanks in advance for anyone who takes the time to read it and offer some support.

I’m currently involved in a nonsensical trust dispute with my uBPD sister.  We are both co-trustees of our now deceased parent’s trust/estate.  My sister has had her issues and temperament problems, over the years.  She emerged with clear BPD traits of splitting, projection and rages, when our parent’s health began to fail and has continued. She painted me black early on. I have been the victim of her rages and have caught her in lies
 
It has been difficult, but we made it through the sale of our parents house, and have distributed approx. 75% of the assets among the two of us.  At that point, my sister took a position that she had to have 50% of the remaining money (prior to DOD appraisal on the house, trust taxes and settlement of remaining trust expenses) She acquired a lawyer, who wrote a series of demand letters.  Initially, I responded on my own behalf.  After my sister did some nefarious things in regard to the trust tax return, I acquired my own lawyer.  I had hoped that, if I acquired a lawyer, I have a better advantage.  I never anticipated I'd have the opposite situation

I had to fire my lawyer this week.  Hopefully, when I get my remaining retainer back, I will have lost just under $3,000 and just put it behind me. I plan to write my own letter to my sister's lawyer this week, and resume acting on my own behalf.

I probably won’t pursue any legal action, but I believe my lawyer’s behavior may qualify as malpractice.  There was a failure to follow instructions (per a written report/outline I provided that addressed 5 issues that I wanted addressed).  Additionally, it appears as if my lawyer has confused me with another client and has had either phone conversations or email exchanges with opposing council, and has conveyed erroneous information.

I was required to give my lawyer a retainer. My expectations were to have my lawyer write a demand letter to address 5 issues I detailed out in a report (report was very clear & had a table of contents and clear numbering of issues), I did not expect my lawyer to have conversations with the other side until after we got a response from the letter. 

My lawyer never checked her understanding on anything.  Either she didn't read my report, or ignored it.  Initially, I had a brief in-office meeting with the owning member of the firm.  This was a rather rushed meeting and I was handed off to the newest member of the firm (2nd year in practice).

After examining the line items on my 2nd bill, I inquired about getting copied on all documentation regarding my case.  My lawyer held back on providing me the letter she sent to opposing council.  I had to ask her 3 times,  before I was copied on the letter she wrote. Finally, she emailed me a copy. By nature of the billings, I'll likely get billed for an hours worth of her time, just to get this copy (at $350/hr?)

The letter my lawyer wrote addressed one issue erroneously, the 2nd issue was only partially addressed.  Three other issues were not mentioned.

The response letter from opposing council had false information in it.  It alluded to a conversation between lawyers, with a false statement that I agreed that my sister would take on the task of having the trust tax returns done. The truth is that I was tasked to do the tax return.  My sister had all mail from my parents forwarded to her home address.  She did not share any documents she had relevant to taxes.  She  fought against and refused to cosign a reimbursement check for the DOD Appraisal I paid for with my own money.  Subsequently, she proceeded to triangulate with the CPA, acquire a copy of the the DOD appraisal by nefarious means, and had the taxes done.

Minimally, my sister's antics in regard to the DOD appraisal are unethical.  I'm wondering if the situation could be considered to be theft? I paid for the report with personal money.  My co-trustee sister refused to cosign a check to pay me for it.  I did not give anyone a copy of the appraisal, but it appears as if the CPA triangulated with my sister and the appraiser to get a copy.  The CPA knew the appraiser I used.  There is a longer story about my sister's antics relevant to the DOD appraisal, but I'll hold back.  The

There was an additional false statement in the letter that said my sister and I had a phone conversation. Nope, my only interaction with her has been a series of registered letters. 

I’m writing this partially to vent, but to also seek some feedback from others with problem lawyers.  Has anyone else had such a bad experience with a lawyer? Vision is always better in hindsight.  On the day I wrote a termination letter to my lawyer, I stumbled upon some Yelp reviews for the law firm I used.  The average review was 2.5 out of 5 and minimally, others shared my experience of excessive billing.  Wish I found that review before I hired  this lawyer.  I thought that their offer of a brief initial interview was a plus, but looks like they they made that money back several times over, by excessively billing in other ways.  I'm billed for inquiring about the nature of billing items.  Then, the lawyer can't explain the nature of  a conversation with opposing council (email or TC?).  I guess it would be less of an issue, if she represented my interest in an accurate manner.

I wouldn’t feel so robbed of my money, if my lawyer had billed me for conversations to check her understanding and perhaps had me preview the letter she sent, before she sent it.  The one phone conversation I had with my lawyer, was rather alarming, as she couldn’t relate to the facts of my case and her comments appeared to relate to a different client.

The owning partner of my law firm agreed to terminate our client/lawyer relationship.  He commented in a email that my sister will likely proceed with filing a court petition soon.  I think she may try to get me removed as co-trustee.  I have a very detailed trail of registered mail to my sister.  I have no doubt that my sister's lawyer is missing essential information.  In view of the entirety of her actions, I can't imagine a judge giving her what she wants.