What a mess-Part II

[I cry_ in_the_dark]

Dear Soc,
     Thanks for your first reply.

To continue on with the mess...I'd like to know how to deal with my lawyer regarding payment of his bill. I had paid quite a hefty retainer when this all began. He did a fantastic job at my contempt hearing, tho, that was a farce to begin with. At my custody hearing however, I may as well have been there alone x(

As a local police lieutenant who was very familiar with the goings on put it, "What other case was your lawyer working on???"

A good deal of the "findings of fact" have to do with my 9 year old son having ADHD. The findings include (falsely) that my son has NO behavior problems while in Dad's care, while I admitted to having some issues but was receiving a great deal of help from my son's Mental Health Services in how to deal with my son's behavior.

To keep this as short as possible, this is what my lawyer failed to do:

A. He failed to subpoena the school psychologist who would testify that for 2 years (when my son's problems began) Dad refused to agree to getting any counseling for my son. She went out of her way to make reccomendations and appointments to which he refused.

B. He failed to subpoena the family Doctor who also willingly agreed to testify that Dad refused to co-operate with getting my son any help.

C. He failed to subpoena my daughter's counseling records which would prove that Dad was unco-operative in her counseling. I did manage to set up one session that he agreed to attend in which he walked out 5 minutes after it began.

D. In his possession at the time of the hearing, were six months worth of daily documentation from the school in regards to my son's behavior while at school. These documents would prove that my son's behavior was NO different regardless of who's custody he was in during the week.
As well, my son was placed in detention twice while in Dad's custody vs. NONE while in my custody. He failed to present these documents.

E. In his possession at the time of the hearing he had a copy of the daily journal from my son's TSS worker, which would also prove everything I stated in  the above paragraph. He failed to present these documents.

F. Findings of fact include that my son vandalized cars while at my home simply because Dad says it happened. It NEVER happened, and there was no proof (ie police report or anything). My lawyer did not attempt to refute this.

G. Findings of fact include that my son gets into fights at my daycare while he doesn't at Dad's daycare, simply because Dad said so.  Again, no proof, he has never been in a fight at daycare. This is also FALSE but my lawyer failed to refute this. (Never mind that Dad was court ordered to use my daycare.)

I can continue if you like, but I think you get the general drift that my lawyer failed to do much of anything. He allowed them to chew me up and spit me out without a bat of an eye.

While I understand there are no guarantees in law, I cannot understand having to dish out an additional $2,300 for NOTHING. So my question is...
1. Is there anything I can do to lower/remove this demand for $$$???

Be prepared for "What a mess-Part III
Thanks in advance.

[socrateaser]

Send attorney a letter stating your complaints exactly as you have to me, and ask him to explain why he did none of these obvious things and why he should be paid for what is apparently legal representation below the standard of care, i.e., negligence.

Unless he can provide you with an adequate explanation, you should file with the relevant government agency for a fee dispute arbitration and an ethics complaint. And you should so state in your letter. Give him no more than 10 days to respond and tell him that too.

[I cry_ in_the_dark]

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