What recourse do I have against a tax lawyer who never did anything to help me?

Question by Christopher: What recourse do I have against a tax lawyer who never did anything to help me?
Around 2006 and after the bankruptcy of our restaurant here in California, we paid a “lawyer” to help us resolve our business and sales tax debit. Nothing was ever done despite our repeated phone calls and emails. Eventually we started to make payments.

In 2011 our marriage dissolved and both of us hit hard economic times. I have been unemployed for over a year. And although I am not above trying to make payments as best I can, I don’t believe the lawyer should be able to take our money and do nothing.

Is there anyway to make him make good on his promises? Do I have any legal standing against him? We still owe around 15,000 and have no money. We are both literally in danger of being homeless.

I would imagine there are a lot of “Would’a, Could’s, Should’a”‘s attached to this story but that doesn’t help our current situation.
First off, thank you all for your help.

Second, after rereading my post I should clarify; I still owe 15K to taxes, not the deadbeat. He was paid $ 3000 up front. Yes, this was originally back in 2006 and for the year that followed we constantly would call and email him. He kept asking us for the same financial information repeatedly. I now believe this was just a stalling tactic. After a while he just stopped returning calls and email. I don’t really want my money back, I want to get out from the debt. In regards to an offer in compromise, that was my next plan. I know it seems I let this go too long but when the marriage started to fall apart, it was hard to focus on anything else. That was followed by serious health issues and unemployment. I’ve only now just started a new job.

I wonder if there is a statute of limitations?

Best answer:

Answer by Z
You should only pay the lawyer for the services which he performed. If he didn’t perform any services then you shouldn’t have paid him anything.

No court is going to force him to be a lawyer for you, but you are entitled to a refund of any money you paid to him if he did not perform a service.

I hope you had some sort of contract with him. I think I would never pay 15,000 to someone that did nothing for me.

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