Firing my attorney, where do I go from here?

[Gosia & Tito 199]

I hope I am posting this in the right place.

So far here's my scoop. I filed I-129F 5/9/11.

RFE was in July and I submitted RFE right back to USCIS.

Now waiting for our NOA2.

Here's our problem. We hired Allan S. Lolly to do our paper work. We had read over the process of the k-1 and it

seemed over whelming at the time so we entrusted our papers to the atty. First, it took them 6 weeks from the time

they sent us the I-129F forms to complete till they finally submitted them to the USCIS. We never talked to them over the phone

but they would only communicate via email. This dragged things out by weeks. Second, they lost our check to submit the I-129 form and

they never told us, and when we called to see if the forms were submitted they didn't tell us they lost the check but that they were waiting

for us to send it. Ya, right. I emailed them and told them the day we had sent it and to be expecting it. This was another delay.

Then after they submitted the forms with our evidence of relationship, which consisted of facebook profiles of us writing back and forth, emails,

phone records,bank account statements showing rick had been here and we opened a joint account, gas receipts from Rick's travels, toll booth

receipts and lots of photos, we get a RFE. We didn't know why this would happen. This attorney was not clear about anything. Unfortunately Rick

and I did not find VJ till just this month, and had we of found it sooner I am sure a lot of our confusion about this process would not of been a problem.

After reading and understanding the difference between Primary evidence and Secondary evidence, we can see that we didn't' have enough if any primary

evidence and the attorney should have known this. Rick and I live only 8 hours from each other, so he drives here monthly.

So WHY did he not tell us before he submitted our evidence that we needed dates on our photo's. This

is what the RFE asked for when we got it back.

So, we submitted the photo's again but this time date and time stamped. They send us a email saying they were concerned about our evidence.I was so upset

at this point, I called them crying and stressed out and asked them why they are having a problem with what I just sent them. ( I by the way did not get to talk to the

attorney, but only the girl who answered the phone and forwarded my info to him) When they emailed me back finally, I told them I had submitted the info they asked for.

They checked into this and said, yes, I was correct and I sent them exactly what they needed and they apologized and said the attorney just didn't look at all the photo's.

( Just for the record, I enlarged the font size of the date and time so that it couldn't be missed, but I guess they missed it anyway.). Oh, ya, one more thing.

The attorney said that I am going to need a co-sponsor for Rick because I am unemployed here in the U.S. and told his assistant to send me the I-864 form. I HAVE READ ENOUGH

TO KNOW FROM VJ THAT THIS FORM IS FOR FILLING OUT AFTER AOS AND THAT THE I-134 form is the one we need now. Is this correct? I feel so upset right now because

this attorney seems to not give a darn about the fact that his mistakes can and could cost my fiance to be denied.

SO, HERE IS MY QUESTION:

What exactly do I have to do to fire my attorney and ask him to stop all work on our case, and then how do I go about contacting the USCIS so that they don't send anything more

to my attorney. I am planning on using the I-134 form and this I believe I bring with us to the interview, signed and notarized.

They have made this out to look like my fiance will come here and suck up off the government. Little do they know that Rick has 2 full time jobs in canada. One which he owns which is a 3rd shift cleaning company. Owning his own company may not help him to prove he has never been a slacker nor will he be. He has worked 7 days a week for years.

Ok, thanks for reading and helping in anyway you can. I trust the VJ members to give me sound and clear direction on this matter.

Certified letter to inform him that you do not longer require his services, request all your documentation (what they have kept), seems they have filed, but still you might want to request a detail list of all what was sent in the application.

Depending on how the payment was arranged, you might still have to pay him (for example, if the contract states that withdrawing or relieving him from case still requires full payment).

As well, letter to USCIS referring your case number informing you have relieved lawyer from representing you and requesting all correspondence be sent to you.

They might require you to sign a release, that is sort of standard and pretty much he will be covering his a** and really not much you can do about it. Make sure you get a statement indicating all payments have been completed.

Afterwards, you can report him to the BBB in the area where his office is, if you want. This is much like a bad relationship, cut your losses and move on as soon as you can.

Good luck in your petition

[meandmybeloved 15]

We hired a lawyer too for our K1 application and that was our biggest mistake. She never messed up our application and we were not RFEd for our photos which were not date stamped but there were lots of error on our application mostly typos.She just did not know what she was talking about or just wanted to keep us in the dark so we'll hire her for our AOS. My hubby(then fiance) signed a contract with the lawyer so we just cant fire her.When I discovered VJ right after we sent our paperworks I took charge of mostly everything,emailing the dumb b**ch and researching.

First of all USCIS sends a complimentary copy of the NOA2 to the petitioner. NVC also sends a copy of the approval letter to the petitioner so I was able to schedule my medical and interview without our lawyer knowing it because she was telling me to wait for packet 3 from the US Embassy. It doesnt work like that in Manila. I assembled my paperworks without her help but with LOTS of it from VJ.

When I got here in the US I emailed her and told her that hey I am here now can you please send back all our paperworks?Boy she was so surprised that I got here that fast without her help.She even had the gall to ask us if we want to hire her on our AOS for an additional $2500! Hahaha...When I received all our stuff from her I told her she's fired!

Goodluck!

Wow, sounds like us. Our attorney is also trying to keep us in the dark. Telling us to just sit and wait to hear from them and not go rushing through this, but instead to work with them and told us it was fine to research and check out VJ but not to do anything without them. What do they care, they have our money now and I am thinking the same thing as you. After we get the NOA2 we will bypass the attorney and handle it all from here ourselves.

Thanks for your info and story.

[feli114 65]

I also hired an attorney and I pray that nothing bad happens. I feel for you in your with your situation. I decided to read over my petition again this week and to my surprise I did find a typo. I just hope it doesnt cause an rfe. I only hired him for the first part. Good luck with your petition

[felo391971 4]

a lot of replies i will follow JimVaPhuong comment note you need that NOA 2 after that you can finish the process by yourself

About the REFs dont worry to Much i even got one at the embassy as longer you can get the requested information REFS are just a Pain for the 2 of you and only delays the process for a few weeks.

[A and T 82]

I'm also using Allan S. Lolly,

Although i am on a CR-1 my case is more complicated but I do feel they haven't done much to help me. They stall me constantly , although they do always respond to email but its never much of an answer. They claimed they had handled cases like mine before and knew what to do.

But here i am 2 and half years later still waiting and still emailing them in hopes that they take some action. (Thats why i hired them, in case of a problem) It seems once they got the money from me, that was it. I paid about 3k or more upfront.....

[In a tizzy 7]

Sorry for the Drama in your case.It is true that when you hire an Attorney they will get the paperwork before you and sometimes you never see it. It can set on a desk for weeks without your knowledge.

When you hired the Attorney you signed a Contract that lays out the terms and conditions. Generally, these are never in your favor if you decide to terminate the Contract.

To FIRE Your Attorney must be in writing but you still maybe bound to the Contract as far as Monies. When you hired the Attorney your heart was in charge of your mind.

I'm sure your Attorney has paperwork submitted by you that you need back and they might posibly hold that until you pay them per the Terms and Agreements of your Contract.

Even with an Attorney, I got a RFE but was weeks later until I was notified.

If you wish to Fire the Attorney then you will have to contact them and discuss the Terms of the Agreement. AGAIN: This must be in writing. You will also have to notify USCIS that all Paperwork be sent to you with a copy of the dissulution of your Agreement with that said Attorney (to be safe)

Thats how you FIRE an Attorney in my thoughts and is Legal

Even I almost missed the VITAL part of timestamping the photos~ I know how you feel. Spread the word: TIMESTAMP your photos and COPY EVERYTHING. Lose the deadbeat attorney. Find a better one via legal aid or something like that.

[bestofboston 36]

I hope you have a relative or close friend that will be your co-sponsor.

Good luck