OT: Indy Attorney?

I could use your guys advise. I need an attorney and don't know who to go to. Here's the situation: My lovely sister...remember, we can't choose relatives!...had borrowed ~$6,000 from me. The money went toward her bills. Since her house was paid in full, it pretty much got her to where all she would have to pay is me and her utilities (would be nice, wouldn't it?). This was ~3 years ago. The agreement was that she would pay me back $500/month. That worked..for FOUR months. I had to put much of that on credit cards. Rather than calculate how much was hers and what was mine each month, I asked her if I could just charge her $40/month instead. And she agreed to that...on the phone. A few months after that, even borrowed ~$2000 more. She was divorced last fall and got the judge to order her ex to pay half...at $50 per month! He was also suppose to claim their daughter on income tax this year. She beat him to the punch and used the excuse that the money was going to me. She sent me $2,000. I deposited it and a few days later paid bills with it. I found out this morning that she canceled the check! Now I am waiting for the credit union to open in order to get a loan to put in my bank before all my checks start bouncing! I am so pissed off. Enough is enough. I need an attorney that will go after the full amount plus fair market interest and his expenses. I never had any agreement with her ex...why should I have to wait and get the money back $50 at a time. Seems to me that she should have been ordered to pay the full amount and him repay her in whatever terms the court decided. Not me. It is HER ex, not mine. Know anyone? She's threatening to file bankruptsy so I have to do something quick. Thanks a million! OK...thanks ~$8,000 plus interest... Sherri ps...To add salt to injury...she's told all of our family that I'm lying about the interest and that I've twisted things around so I guess they are all mad at me too. What's new? I wrote them off a long time ago like when they chose what hotel in Indy to stay at when my step-dad had his open RNY based on NOT what was closest to the hospital but by what was closest to the shopping centers! They are a bunch of priority screwed up people!

sherri. call Ken Harshey he is on the south side of indy but is a kick ass lawyer. tell him the jim faniels sent you . sorry i dont have his number handy but he is listed online n the msn yellow pages.. i sure hope he can help you . \ vicki

Vicki, Thank you. I have an appointment for 10 in the morning. I really appreciate the reference. They were able to get me in today but since part of the information is at home and on my hoe computer (I'm at work), I opted to wait until tomorrow. This whole situation is so frustrating. The last thing you want to do is sue your sister, but when your sister treats you like this, what options do you have? I feel like I was more than patient. She was 17 months in default when she made that $2,000 payment that she stopped. BTW...I asked the bank how long you should wait after you deposit a check to have confidence that you can use that money. I was told 2 days, 3 max. I deposited it on 3/2, didn't touch it until 3/9 (one full week) and she put the stop on it on 3/11. the teller couldn't figure out why it was allowed to be stopped so long after it was deposited either. On the plus note, the check that was causing my balance to be in the negative this morning is still in 'pending' status. Since the deposit I made (yeah Credit Union!!) was cash with no holding time, it was automatically credited to my account so the 'pending' item won't cause anything to bounce or added bounce fees. Thanks again Vicki..and to everyone else who understands the frustrations of trying to help family...only to be screwed by them. Sherri

not a problem sherri . he has handled many things for us and is a hot shot . he really knows his stuff.i know its a bit of a drive to his office but well worth it to me anyway. we also do a lot of his or should i say all of his computer work . well if you want call me and let me know what he says hun . i hope all goes well for you ...i think my home number is on my profile in our yahoo angel info... vicki

Oh Sherri, I don't know any Indy attorneys, but good luck. I know your pain, although my loan to my sister-in-law is smaller than that amount. Linda Vicory

Good luck.. you are sooo right you can't choose your relatives... Got weird ones myself. Don't know any good lawyers.. Linda

Sherri, Call the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association (634-8841) they can give you a list of attorneys who handle such things. And if I'm not mistaken, unless you have an agreement in writing, family debts are not dischargable through bankruptcy. Annette (Counting to 10 for you, for as many times as it takes)

Annette, I called and they wanted to refer me to a few other places so I called the one Vicki recommended. I'm fixing to post a reply to hers. Thanks for the advise! And I sure hope you're right that she isn't allowed to claim bankruptsy on it. Sherri

I don't know of an attorney that handles things of that nature but I sure hope you are able to find one that is aggressive! That would p*** me off too! Go get em

how sad you have to do this....no reason for her to put a stop payement on that money ....sad. sorry you have to deal with this....