Do You Have a Payment Plan?

When my husband needed heart surgery and all the doctors we were referred to as specialists in the field refused to accept our insurance, I didn't ask them if they took a payment plan. He needed the surgery and I was going to beg borrow or steal the money, which I did (I stopped short of stealing it)and he had the surgery.

Clients who enter my office think nothing of asking me to do my work immediately and not wanting to pay me until later. I accept all major forms of credit and tell them that they can pay out Visa, but I need to get the money upfront.

Now a new twist has reared its (her) ugly head, the client who fires me, and wants her file wants to pay her bill off in a payment plan she said I agreed to while I was employed. No I said, You want your file, you pay me for the work done.

How is it everyone else gets paid as they do the work, but attorneys are expected to wait indefinitely and sometimes, many times never get paid for their time and effort.
The clients who cry to me that "You know my circumstances!" expect me to forgo paying my own bills because they cannot pay theirs. Lipa is never interested when I tell them my clients owe me a lot of money. My mortgage company doesn't care that my receivables are lagging and American Express just cuts me off when I ask to for a pay off plan.

We attorneys are usually not independently wealthy and we certainly are not Not for Profit Organizations. We attorneys are working Moms and Dads just trying to pay our bills and do a good job for a good days pay.