Outsidelookingin
recently joined
Reged: 10/22/08
Posts: 2
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I apologize in advance if this is too wordy. I'll try to keep it to the point.
My wife's parents recently divorced after 28 years of marriage. The divorce was finally settled just over a year ago. As it turns out he had a secret retirement account that he did not disclose during the divorce. He retired about four months ago and his Employer contacted her and told her that she was entitled to her share of the 401K (we assume that they were legally required to do so). Since then she has been to see her lawyer several times to discuss this matter and she still has no idea how much money is in this retirement account and what her entitlements are. She goes to appointments just to be told that they (the employer) haven't responded to his subpoenas and that he, the lawyer, was going to subpoena them again. My wife's dad worked for a major corporation. We cannot understand why a corporation would ignore subpoenas for an ex-employee over an issue that they initiated contact about. My wife's mom primarily speaks Spanish. She does speak English, but isn't comfortable with her English. Her lawyer speaks English to her in these meetings and most of the time she comes away confused, but trusts that her lawyer is working in her best interest. We, on the otherhand, think that her lawyer is taking advantage of her. We think she is intimidated by him and the process. He makes appointments with her to tell her there is no progress, no respnse from the other party, that he's working on it, and so on. Things that it seems his assistant could tell her over the phone for free. All the while she is getting bills from him for as much as $600! I am begging her to find a new lawyer that will at least speak Spanish to her so that she understands what is happening. Here are my questions:
1. Should my wife and I get involved and go to a meeting with her and her lawyer to help her understand?
2. Does this sound like misconduct? I can't believe that she is still in the dark about a retirement account that her lawyer has known about for over four months. Could he be withholding information in order to string this process along and collect fees? At the very least, her ex-husband should be in court explaining why this retirement account wasn't disclosed.
3. If she finds another lawyer that expedites this process, should she sue her current lawyer for the fees that she has incurred since the divorce was finalized?
She needs help, she is at the point that she wants to give up and lose her entitlements!
Edited by Outsidelookingin (10/22/08 11:45 PM)
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Maury
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 06/02/04
Posts: 8146
Loc: This Asylum --->
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First, $600 is not alot for legal representation. Second, if the divorce was finalized an dthe retirment account was not included as part of the property settlement, the remedy is to file a Motion to reopen the decree with regard to that issue. In some states there are defined time limitations for such actions. In Minnesota, the motion must be filed, in most cases, within one year after the divorce.
If the divorce is over, I am not sure what good a subpoena does since there is no existing action. Additionally, the only way to subpoena the records is to scheduke a hearing or a deposition at which the custodian orf records must appear to present the information requested. With regard to your questions:
"1. Should my wife and I get involved and go to a meeting with her and her lawyer to help her understand?"
If everyone is comfortable with that, it certainly makes sense. It seems you should also be advised first hand what is being done and why before you cast stones at the lawyer.
"2. Does this sound like misconduct?"
No. It may be a lawyer that is over his/her head regarding proper procedure, but it is not misconduct.
"3. If she finds another lawyer that expedites this process, should she sue her current lawyer for the fees that she has incurred since the divorce was finalized? "
It would likely be an expensive process to sue and, strategy decisions, even if incorrect, would not constitute malpractice. Moreover, to sue for malpractice you must pay an expert (another attorneey) to opine that the first lawyer's conduct was below the proper professional standard of care. In other words, it would be a difficult case.
On the other hand, many states do have procedures where legal clients can seek to arbitrate fee disputes. You may wish to check with your state bar association.
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VAFather
newbie
Reged: 10/09/08
Posts: 41
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This self-professed, homosexual activist (HA), ambulance chaser is part of the scheme to brain wash our youth.
More from the Canadian SOW Report Targeting Men & Boys
More from the hate group, Canadian Status of Women (SOW):
“In particular, we stress the urgency for women to “take ownership” of the Internet. (Ownership? Sheesh!)
There is also a need to ensure closer monitoring of hate-mongering sites to determine whether legal action should be taken. (hatemongering? Sheesh! Did anyone see the long list of hate groups that they want to "monitor?" Sheeesh!)
It is important as well to disseminate egalitarian messages and to support studies that provide a context for problems, such as alleged violence by women.” (Alleged? Sheesh!)
As we have always said, if you see a lie and it is repeated, it's a what? Yeppers. A femin azi PIG.
As we have mentioned before, there is an evil, insidious group of posters on this site promoting the hatred of men, the changing of societal boundaries, the promotion of female superiority as they force their propaganda upon this and practically every other discussion/help board financed by the government in Canada, the USA & many other countries as promoted by SOW/NOW. Most even get paid to do this.
This poster is one of them and continuously makes posts that are:
OT
TP
PT
SOW
Cow
TI
HA
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Outsidelookingin
recently joined
Reged: 10/22/08
Posts: 2
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WTF?
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AUDad
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Reged: 10/11/08
Posts: 46
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The post was not directed at you.
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