Eleven yrs ago, I was served with divorce papers (after 20 yrs marriage& 2children later) in this lovely no fault state of CT.
I hired an Atty who had a good reputation of being Thorough/Fair I retained him & agreed to the $21,000 all inclusive fee. (alot of money now, a real lot of $ then!)
I only met with him 2 times b/4 the 2 hearings prior to final divorce haearing. He was NEVER avail away on vacations 5 in 9 months! MY CALLS WERE RARELY IF @ ALL RETURNED HE WAS ILL PRPARED ETC. I had to do my own legal research since he was unavailable and did not file proper motions (i would later find out)
Typical in ct a divorce atty is paid in full by final decree - that he was. Per my request i insisted he seek some of the legal fees from my then husban who was making ten times more than income and left for another (didn't matter-nofault) joint accounts were cleaned out 2 days prior to my being served, yet never addressed! 2 minor children with disability were involved (no accomodations recommended) i was granted $5k toward already pd in full legal fee never given back to me. My atty never completed what was agreed upon @ final hearing (quadro) yet that was included with all & to be completed for the $21k.
NOW REALLY DID NOT RETURN CALLS SO NOTHING COMPLETED, NOTHING ENFORCED, AS PER DECREE STIPULATIONS. Finally retained atty #2 who bashed the"staples type form" which for having 2 minor children was non specific on any issue other than weekly child support also way under support eforcement chart guidline! (hey i was no atty & i though they were held to a standard, accountable to the bar assoc. Etc -yeah right! Well $6k it paid as a retainer to #2 for that very valuable info yet no performance, not 1 motion filed all smoke no fire. FAST FORWARD 4 ATTY'S &MANY REATINERS WITH ONLY ONE HEARING WITH WRONG MOTIONS FILED (modification of child support, completeing Quadro etc.) I & my children wound up10yrs later with 1/3 of the rippoff decreed tenyrs ago. All renegotiated without my knowledge. All along the way i questioned all of this w@ the Bar Assoc., Judiciary Committee, and any entity that is supposed to monitor Court/Atty activity - The Answer given "it's very unfortunate but sometimes a few people slip through the legal cracks and you & your children just happened to be one of the few." Now That is a heck of an answer! My x purchased 2 wks after final hearing a 2.5 mil home with only a 244K mortgage from the obvious proceeds of OUR BANK ACCTS
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