I decided that there was no way to salvage my marriage, I went and hired an attorney last Monday, I paid her the retainer fee and she explained that she would need a few days to get a TRO set up. She said that my husband would be served at work by the end of the week (last week). I called her office last Thursday afternoon because she had not called me yet to come into review the orders and I had a few more ?'s for her. Her asst. said that she had stepped out of the office to run an errand and she would have her call me back when she returned. Friday I called twice, but there was no answer at all, so I left a message. This morning I called and her assistant said that she was with a client and woul call me when she was done, and that she was working on my case. It is now after 8 pm and she never called, OK, it has been a week and I still have no TRO, and the attorney won't even return my call to answer ?'s. Is this normal? How long does it usually take to get a TRO, I thought it only took a few days, but have never been through this, so I don't really know. I do not want to seem pushy, but I paid her fee right away and I feel like I deserve at least a call from here giving me an update and to answer my ?'s. I gave her the retainer last Monday morning and didn't call her until Thursday afternoon. Please let me know how this works and if this is normal. I gave her no reason to believe that I wanted to drag this out or was I going to change my mind. Any input would be helpful. thanks
You are her client, you are paying her. Do not stand still for this. Call and dismiss her and mention official complaints, and she will be back to you in moments. Sera
I would ask for my retainer back. She is not doing her part of the job and you have done yours by paying her. I would not trust that she is going to do everything she can for you if she is acting like this already. A divorce is difficult as it is without being stressed out by your attorney who is supposed to be on your side.
I filed for divorce myself last year and would not have put up with the attorney not calling back and not being available.
I have little experience with divorces, but some experience with lawyers. It is often difficult to talk to them on the phone. They are always "busy" elsewhere. If I were you, I would walk into her office myself, possibly scheduling an appointment before through her secretary. You know, most lawyers work with various clients at the same time, and if they don't respond to you immediately, it is not necessarily out of negligence or dishonesty, but due to an overload of work, right or wrong. Anyway, have you got a receipt from her for your payment?
You could try stopping by the office and demanding your retainer back. The way your lawyer is treating you is ridiculous and you don't need to put up with it. You let her know you are taking your case elsewhere and chances are she will jump on it. Of course, if the TRO isn't complete and the papers ready to be served to your soon to be ex I wouldn't allow her to continue. I don't care how busy she is, the least she can do is pick up the phone and keep you in the loop.
Thank you for your responses. I am going to go down there right now. I signed a paper saying that I could "fire" her if I was not satisfied, but that she would keepthe part of the retainerfor the work already done, she charges $250.00 an hour and I am afraid she's going to say she has worked several hours and I did sign a paper saying that time spent would not be refunded, but she hasn't even produced any rough draft or an inkling of what the TRO will include, and I have stated that I have ?'s that I need answered. I do realize that attorney's are busy and that is why I didn't bother her the first 4 days, but to not even call to answer a ? or say, hey this is the update, that's rude. I didn't want to **** her off if she is really working hard on my case, but it's not that hard to get a TRO from what other people have told me, that is usually done quickly to stop the other spouse from taking things and selling things, and she knows that I was dealing with that being a big possibility. thank you,
Did you check the attorney's references? does she specialize in civil matters/divorce? Does she have many partners, or this is a one lawyer office? And did you talk about timelines of what to expect from her - and by law, when you retained her?
I was refered to her by another firm that is very reputable. Yes, she mainly handles divorce, yes she has another lawyer that works with her, and she said he would be helping her on my case. She told me last Monday that she would have the TRO for me in 2 days, and we talked about having my husband served at work last Thursday. I didn't get this in writing, but this is the plan that we discussed, and if it wasn't going to go that way then she should have at least called me and said it was going to take longer.
I went down to the office at 11:40 and her asst. said that she was in court, and has been very busy. I do not know if this is true because yesterday the asst. first said that she was with a client, then said she was busy working on my case, then today said that she was in court all day yesterday. I told the asst. that I needed her to call me beasue I have very important ?'s I need answered, the asst. said well, she is very busy. I stated that I realized that, but all I was asking for was a simple phone call, because I have info and ?'s that could effect my case. I also stated that if she did not have time to handle my case or had changed her mind about handling my case to please let me know ASAP and refund my retainer, so that I can iimmediately get another lawyer, I told the assisitant that was not what I wanted to do though, stating that I really like her, I just need to know what is going on. I was nice and polite and calm, and hopefully this will either get her work, or get her to let me go. This was the 4th time that I had been in her office and never have I seen any other clients, and the first 3 times I went before I hire her, she was just sitting at her desk, and the asst. wasn't doing anything either, so I'm not sure how busy she actually is. Her asst. told me that she has no clients to see tomorrow and no court hearings, so I will see if she calls me tonight to come in tomorrow, if not I guess I will have to find someone else, but I just wasted 2 valuable weeks if that is the case.
