BEPOSITIVE2
New Member
My question relates to legal practice in the state of: Georgia
I have a divorce case out of Colorado which includes orders for child support and a mediated settlement agreement for visitation. When the Divorce was finalized, My ex was living in Pennsylvania, and I in Georgia. My ex has since moved to Georgia. Because he is only an hour and a half away now, we need to modify the parenting plan so that our daughter gets to see him more frequently, but also need to eliminate some lengthy visits that are now unnecessary seeing as how he is so close now.
Long story short, I have to have the Colorado orders domesticated before I can do anything. My ex hasnt paid child support in 1 year, so he will probably be held in contempt. I called a lawyer and asked her if she could just look over my papers for domestication of the foreign order, which she did, and even drafted a better document for me free of charge. I asked her what her retainer was in case I did need to hire a lawyer and she said "just come talk to me if this doesn't work out" well, I was turned away by the clerk at court because I didn't have a lawyer, so I contacted said lawyer to retain counsel.
This is where the trouble begins......She was very attentive and helpful, until she got paid.....My dad paid her half of her retainer and she agreed to let me make monthly installments for the remaining balance. As soon as the payment went through, she was impossible to get a hold of. I know lawyers are busy and I am not the only client, but it took 2 weeks just to set up a 10 minute slot to come and sign the paperwork and bring her all of the required documents. When I went into her office, there was no where to sit, because the chairs were piled with stacks of papers. Her desk was covered with opened files and paper work, peoples personal information splayed out for all to see. She said to me " just slide those papers over and have a seat there"....ok...... then, while I was trying to talk with her about my case she never made eye contact, and proceeded to open up some foil wrapped left overs, and dump them on the floor to feed her dog!!! Ok, so a lot of people would love to bring their dog to work, and I am all for pet friendly work environments, but come on.....
So 2 weeks go by and I hear nothing from her despite a couple of messages left at her office and 2 emails requesting a status update. So, I checked on the courts website, and also with the sheriffs office where my ex resides to see if he had been served yet. Turns out, the attorney gave them the wrong address. So, Again I try to contact the attorney to let her know that she gave them the wrong address.....heard nothing back. Until yesterday....and this is exactly what she wrote " I do not appreciate your calling the court and the sherriff. I do not lie to my clients about whats going on.".........I never accused her of lying, infact the email that I sent to her was very professional and I made sure to let her know how much I appreciate everything that she is doing.I work in customer service, so I know what a pain in the butt some clients can be. For that reason, I do not hound my lawyer and give plenty of time to respond before trying again. (usually 5 days)
With how rude and unprofessional this lady is behaving, its hard to know whether she actually has my best interests in mind. If she felt that I had over stepped my boundaries, she should have let me know politely. It is however, my case, and I think I have the right to know whats going on. Am I out of line??
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I wanted to add that my lawyer gave me some very poor advice. As I stated, we were trying to modify visitation to decrease the amount of long visits and increase the amount of shorter visits since dad is so close now. My lawyer advised me not to send my daughter on a scheduled 2 month visit with her father. I have to say, as much as I hate to send my daughter off crying and screaming that she doesn't want to go, I would never withhold her from her father. When my lawyer told me to not let her go, I figured we would be in court by the time my daughter was scheduled to go or shortly after. WRONG!! We dont even have a court date yet....and thank god that I DID do some homework and discovered that if I had kept my daughter i would risk losing custody!!!!!!! As well as risk being held in contempt, paying fines, even jail time!!
I have a divorce case out of Colorado which includes orders for child support and a mediated settlement agreement for visitation. When the Divorce was finalized, My ex was living in Pennsylvania, and I in Georgia. My ex has since moved to Georgia. Because he is only an hour and a half away now, we need to modify the parenting plan so that our daughter gets to see him more frequently, but also need to eliminate some lengthy visits that are now unnecessary seeing as how he is so close now.
Long story short, I have to have the Colorado orders domesticated before I can do anything. My ex hasnt paid child support in 1 year, so he will probably be held in contempt. I called a lawyer and asked her if she could just look over my papers for domestication of the foreign order, which she did, and even drafted a better document for me free of charge. I asked her what her retainer was in case I did need to hire a lawyer and she said "just come talk to me if this doesn't work out" well, I was turned away by the clerk at court because I didn't have a lawyer, so I contacted said lawyer to retain counsel.
This is where the trouble begins......She was very attentive and helpful, until she got paid.....My dad paid her half of her retainer and she agreed to let me make monthly installments for the remaining balance. As soon as the payment went through, she was impossible to get a hold of. I know lawyers are busy and I am not the only client, but it took 2 weeks just to set up a 10 minute slot to come and sign the paperwork and bring her all of the required documents. When I went into her office, there was no where to sit, because the chairs were piled with stacks of papers. Her desk was covered with opened files and paper work, peoples personal information splayed out for all to see. She said to me " just slide those papers over and have a seat there"....ok...... then, while I was trying to talk with her about my case she never made eye contact, and proceeded to open up some foil wrapped left overs, and dump them on the floor to feed her dog!!! Ok, so a lot of people would love to bring their dog to work, and I am all for pet friendly work environments, but come on.....
So 2 weeks go by and I hear nothing from her despite a couple of messages left at her office and 2 emails requesting a status update. So, I checked on the courts website, and also with the sheriffs office where my ex resides to see if he had been served yet. Turns out, the attorney gave them the wrong address. So, Again I try to contact the attorney to let her know that she gave them the wrong address.....heard nothing back. Until yesterday....and this is exactly what she wrote " I do not appreciate your calling the court and the sherriff. I do not lie to my clients about whats going on.".........I never accused her of lying, infact the email that I sent to her was very professional and I made sure to let her know how much I appreciate everything that she is doing.I work in customer service, so I know what a pain in the butt some clients can be. For that reason, I do not hound my lawyer and give plenty of time to respond before trying again. (usually 5 days)
With how rude and unprofessional this lady is behaving, its hard to know whether she actually has my best interests in mind. If she felt that I had over stepped my boundaries, she should have let me know politely. It is however, my case, and I think I have the right to know whats going on. Am I out of line??
- - - Updated - - -
I wanted to add that my lawyer gave me some very poor advice. As I stated, we were trying to modify visitation to decrease the amount of long visits and increase the amount of shorter visits since dad is so close now. My lawyer advised me not to send my daughter on a scheduled 2 month visit with her father. I have to say, as much as I hate to send my daughter off crying and screaming that she doesn't want to go, I would never withhold her from her father. When my lawyer told me to not let her go, I figured we would be in court by the time my daughter was scheduled to go or shortly after. WRONG!! We dont even have a court date yet....and thank god that I DID do some homework and discovered that if I had kept my daughter i would risk losing custody!!!!!!! As well as risk being held in contempt, paying fines, even jail time!!
