Lee M Perlman

My husband passed in 2/19 and I was in a huge rut. I filed and payed in full 3/19. I never went to court until 9/20. I took the first bankruptcy course 3 times because nobody at the office did what needed to be done with it. Every 3 months for a year and a half i had to send in pay stubs, bank st...atements, etc... because nobody took care of it. I would call and cry on the phone because I didn’t understand why it was taking so long?? My daughter begged me to use her attorney, her bankruptcy took her 5 months, same as my girlfriend. Mine dragged on and on... So I take my final bankruptcy course that needed to be taken, send it into office. That was done 10/1/20. Recently I got a letter from the courts/judge saying that they never received my final certificate stating that I took the final course and that my bankruptcy will be dropped if they don’t receive it. WHAT?? I called office twice, they don’t have it. I sent it directly to Amy this time. Twice. I called back a said to please let me know if and when they send over the certificate so I can put this nightmare behind me. I feel there are too many people dropping the ball at this office.

I went to this lawyer based in the reviews I read. Due to my husband loosing his job and having a new baby at the same time, we got ourselves into a debt we could not repay. Initially Lee Perlman was very friendly and promised he could help. It took many months and a temendous amount of phone calls b...efore anything was completed with our case. In the end his office filed the wrong suit and had to file for an adjustment due to their error. Any question I had took multiple calls or emails to get any response. They then lost a check I needed to send to the trustee, and tried to place the blame on the everyone, but his office, (it depended upon when I asked about the check as to what answer I would ger about what happened to it). On top of the office being unresponsive, he was very condescending and rude when I would try to find out what was going on. Talking to others, after the fact, I discovered the process should only take a few months. It has been two and half years and I can finally say I will NEVER have to deal with the incompetence adn arrogance of this office again!

Unfortunately my experience with this lawyer was a nightmare. Let's begin saying that when I meet with him on the 1st consultation he did not pay attention to very important details of my case; he never took in consideration that I was recently moved to NJ so the exemptions that should apply are thos...e from the state were I was previously resident. He told me that the case will be file 60 days after we sign the retainer documentation, but guess what? He filed my case 150 days later. Another big mistake is that he never mention to me that the balance that you have on your bank accounts on the day he file the case will count as assets. No matter if that money is for something else, like in my case that we made a Cash advance from my wife's credit card to cover another debt of her. So when the trustee came to see my assets he included this money, which technically wasn't mine, not to mention that he also included as an asset a "Security Deposit" of a property owned by my wife in another state, which is rented. What this team of lawyers did about this? Nothing!!! I really did not understand why he included this money if the NJ real estate law says that the security deposit of a rental always belongs to the tenant, never to the landlord. So that money was on one of my bank accounts because is required by law, but that money never belongs to me. Let's continue, the day of the 341 Meeting of Creditors the lawyer that Mr. Perlman sent to represent me (Omar Valdez) did not have any idea about my case, so he couldn't respond any of the questions the trustee asked him. The only good thing this lawyer did on that meeting was to make the trustee be very upset. Another issue that I would like to mention is the lack of customer service skills his staff posses, beginning with the receptionist who always treat you whit attitude. In one opportunity I asked for an appointment with Mr. Valdez to have an updated about my case, the appointment was at 10:00 am so I arrived a few minutes earlier. It was 11:15 am and I was still waiting, even when Mr. Valdez saw me through a glass door at around 10:30 am. When Mr. Valdez finally approached to me he told me that he cancelled my appointment through an e-mail he sent me the same day around 6:30 am. My question is: Is this a professional way to cancel an appointment? At the end I had to pay $3,000 that went straight to the trustee's pocket, because it was the amount of money he claimed as attorney fees. So none of the $3,000 went to the creditors. I am not saying that he is not a good lawyer because I had to pay; I understand that in a bankruptcy case you can end up paying, according to your assets; I’m saying that he is no a good lawyer because he never protected my interests, represented me and he never gave the proper counseling; that is why there were tons of mistakes. In other words I felt that my lawyer was representing the trustee but not me. My recommendation for those who are thinking to file for bankruptcy is to make sure to hire an attorney with good reputation and someone that you can rely on. Survey. 1 to 5, where 1=Poor and 5= Excellent. Initial Phone conversation with attorney………………………………………4 Ease of scheduling appointment(s)……………………………………………4 Directions to the office………………………………………………………….5 Staff knowledge of bankruptcy…………………………………………………1 Courteousness and willingness to help……………………………………….1 Timeliness of papers from prepared……………………………………………1 Timeliness of papers being filed with court……………………………………1 Preparation for court appearance……………………………………………...1 Quality of the attorney who represented you at the court appearance……1 The service I received have failed to meet my expectations.