Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

I have a custody case with my daughter concerning her 3 daughters. We both had attorneys and evem had an amicus attorney for the girls. This went on and on and last Sept we entered into agreement that 2 would live with me and the other with her mother. I thought all was said and done....In the end of March I got a call from my attorneys office to come by and sign a paper. I did. I then received a copy of the final decree. I then thought that everything was over again. A few days after that I received a bill of 1600 dollars. 250 of which was for the current order and the other was a balance I really did not know I owed. The attorney himself had told me last Sept that if we did not go back to court that I would not owe additional so this was news to me. The office girl was like yeah you owe it....The problem is this . I am broke. I am in the process of filing bankruptcy. I did not want to put the attorney in the backruptcy as I wanted him to get paid. The problem is this.......I got a copy of a letter from the court saying that if our case is not finalized by June 1st that it will be dropped. I was under the understanding everything was already done. I called my attorney's office and the lady said that my daughter's lawyer still has the paper and not returned it to them to file. The dilemma is that I am afraid that if my daughter does not sign and we have to file a motion to get her to sign the case will be dropped if my attorney requires payment before he will do the additional work. If he is waiting til the last minute as he has always done I will be without counsel this time and all the time and money I have spent will be wasted and the case will go back in favor of my daughter. What can I do? By the way, the court ordered no child support from my daughter, just from my ex son in law and I havent received any of that since last August. This is a bad time for this to come up, I am one who has always paid my bills, and I am not sure what to do.


Asked on 5/06/10, 6:59 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mark Dunn Mark D. Dunn

1. When you file bankruptcy, if you owe your lawyer any money, you MUST list it in your schedules (it's the law), and he will receive notice from the bankruptcy court. The debt you owe him will be discharged.

2. Write to him NOW and tell him what you told me. Ask for an explanation (about how you could still owe money). WRITE A PAPER LETTER. Stop using the telephone!

Also ask him what he is going to do about the fact that you haven't received any court-ordered child support.

3. The June 1 deadline is probably for dismissal for want of prosecution. It's an easy matter to ask the Judge to keep the case on the docket and not dismiss it.

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Answered on 5/12/10, 7:40 am


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