Your lawyer may not be able to respond to you right away because they are dealing with another client's negotiations or trial. This is no excuse for not fully responding to another customer. Justia Ask a Lawyer is a forum for consumers to get answers to basic legal questions. Any information sent through this platform is not secure and is done only on a non-confidential basis.
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After eight months of unanswered calls, the lawyer finally answered this week by phone to schedule a conference call. If you think your lawyer is ignoring you, send a certified letter to their office questioning the silence and telling you that you are prepared to find a new lawyer if necessary. If you can't get your lawyer's attention or response, you may have no choice but to hire a new lawyer and request that they handle it. The first lawyer could talk to him as a professional courtesy, even if he doesn't get calls from clients. The legal system has certainly slowed down during the pandemic, but your lawyer should still respond within a reasonable amount of time.
Many lawyers in New York (especially those dealing with personal injury cases and medical negligence cases) don't have a communication system set up to let you know what's happening with your case every month. You could also consider drafting a formal letter expressing your concerns and mailing it to your lawyer. The trust lawyer can advise you on how to obtain your file and move forward with the sale of the land if the family lawyer doesn't cooperate. Since the court says that kinship cases are deferred indefinitely, it might make sense to wait until the system is back up and running and then contact your lawyer. If you think that your lawyer has been ignoring you or handling the matter unprofessionally, you can definitely seek the help of another attorney.
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