Ben's Blog

Are you looking for a lawyer / attorney in the Tecumseh / Clinton / Adrian, Michigan area?  There are probably a few good options in the area but I can’t give you a complete list here.  I can, however, save you a bit of time by giving you the name of one person that I would advise to steer clear of – Michael Brooks.

Long story short, it is my opinion that Michael completely botched a simple real estate / land contract document, dragging something that could have been done in days into something that is still ongoing two months after enlisting his assistance.  Feel free to read on if you want to find out why I feel this way.  I may be off on the exact dates of the items below but I’ve tried to the best of my ability to summarize the ordeal best I can. 

I contacted Michael in late November, 2008 to assist with an extension of a land contract for a commercial building my parents sold in 2006 – the contract in place ended December 31, 2008.  The buyer requested an extension after attempting, but failing, to secure the necessary financing due to other business dealings that were scheduled to complete within 3-6 months.  We didn’t object to a twelve month extension since the buyer made all payments on time and was operating a successful business from the building.

I originally went to Michael Brooks because my father used him in a past business transaction, and he drafted my parents’ wills.  My dad passed away in April of 2008, and my mom requested that I help work out the details of the extension with the attorney and the buyer.  I thought I would be safe using someone my dad had gone to in the past to complete the documentation I needed.  Sadly, I was wrong.

Let me start by saying that as of today, February 1, 2009, the documentation for the land contract extension has still not been completed and signed by the buyer.  I should have given up many times over on Michael and gone to a different attorney, but at first my mom took the “wait and see” approach hoping he would come through and at this point I am just holding out hope that Michael can come through.

After my initial calls with Michael, and faxing him all the necessary documents he needed to work on the extension he stopped returning my calls.  A period of 2-3 weeks went by without a returned call at which point I had to ask my mom to call to see if she could get further than me.  Finally, about a week before the final payment was due, Michael called me (making no mention of his failure to call me previously) to ask for the payoff amount from the bank – something that I faxed him weeks before.  Again, I should have ran to another attorney at this point but Michael promised my mom and I this would be wrapped up quickly.  Instead, weeks go by without another word from him. 

By mid January, long after this entire process should have been done and over with, my mom and I were now regularly placing calls to Michael’s office and either getting no answer, or hearing “Michael is out of the office.”  One Friday Michael answered my mom’s call and swore that he would have the documents mailed to her in Florida for signature within a couple days.  Surprisingly, he followed through this time, and my mom signed and sent them back to him.  I intervened and asked to see the documents before the process went any further and after several more days of phoning the office the documents were faxed to me.

I wish I could say I was shocked, but I wasn’t the least bit suprised to see that the interest rate, contract term and pay off amounts were incorrect on the contract.  Several days and countless phone calls later I was finally able to get Mike on the phone to discuss these errors and he again acted like this was normal and acceptable – and even questioned if I ever gave him the rate/term he should have used.  Again, this information was given to him verbally and in written form via fax many weeks prior.

At this point the bank can’t easily collect payments from the buyer because the previous contract has long past it’s completion date and my mom has to worry about making the payments herself.  I’m pretty sure that the documents are complete enough to sign off, even though I still question the validity of the pay off amount on the contract, so maybe this will be complete soon.  I’m not sure how this could be any worse, but if anyone can do it, Michael could find a way to “add insult injury.”

My question to you – Internet reader seeking a recommendation or referral – if Michael J Brooks can’t draft a simple land contract document in a timely manner what hopes do you have working with him on anything more important?  My advise – run, don’t walk, far away from his office.

In case you want to tempt fate and see if you have better luck more power to you.  I fully acknowledge this is just one person’s experience and there are probably many people out there who have had great experiences with Michael.  I would just like to know what about my situation warranted the service, or lack there of, we received from Mr. Brooks.

So, if you still want to work with Michael, you can contact him here:

Michael J Brooks
1107 West Chicago Boulevard
Tecumseh,MI, 49286
(517)423-2797

Let me know how it turns out for you.