Help Please

Hi, I am reading the posts about Solicitors with great interest. I enlisted the services of a Solicitor to see me through an acrimonious divorce. It was very important to me when I first met this chap that he understood the kind of person that he would be dealing with. I pointed out that my Stbx is a bully, he has no respect for the law, he would not disclose his finances honestly etc etc. It was most important to me that he was able to deal with that kind of situation. He assured me that he was used to dealing with bullies and he was happy to take the case. My Stbx refused to disclose his 14 bank accounts and lied on his E Form. I should mention at this point that I had proof of several of the accounts and at the first hearing the Stbx still refused to disclose. He was told to disclose by the judge and told to disclose two years previous aswell as this is when he started to move large amounts of money out of joint accounts. Since that hearing several things have happened. He still refuses to answer questions regarding these accounts and if he does answer he just says I can''t remember or I don''t know. Despite my requests to my solicitor to ask for answers my solicitor does not push for answers. My Stbx has also been emailing me demanding this that and the other, several times I have asked my solicitor to contact him and his solicitor and request he does not personally contact me and I consider it to be harassment. My Solicitor still has not done this. My solicitor insists that I detail everything I spend, I mean everything! Despite this my Stbx details nothing under £1000. My car has been damaged ( that''s fairly typical of his type of behaviour) yet my solicitor refuses to add this to information given to the court.

This is where I am at. I feel I have to defend myself to my solicitor, I get anxious every time I see an email from him or his name come up on my phone. He does not want to deal with anything other than the financial settlement which he appears to have left in the hands of the barrister! He ignores my questions and does not deal with some very important issues.

I am certain he doesn''t look at information I provide, he just keeps on saying you will get 50% and that''s it. You can''t do anything else. I am tired of hearing I can''t or I shouldn''t, I would like to hear ''why shouldn''t you'' or why can''t you, I would like a bit of positivity instead of consistent negativity.

Going through all this is hard enough without feeling my own solicitor is against me. The FDR is in July. I realise that if I change solicitor now there will be a transfer fee? Does anyone know what this is ? Does anyone know someone they would recommend? I feel that it''s useless to continue as I have no faith in him to assist me.

Is there any advice please.

There is no fee to change solicitor.

Your solicitor will want their dosh to date before releasing your file.

A new solicitor will want some money to read your file, it ranges from a couple of hundred to the sky''s the limit depending how complex it is.

Very often people have unrealistic expectations of lawyers, they expect quick answers or replies, well it depends how urgent it is, if not urgent it''s not unusual to wait a few days to a week, see it maybe urgent or important to you, but maybe not so much legally, and to some extent a good solicitor will not indulge all questions because your paying the bill.

Now of course I know nothing of your situation and your solicitor could be useless for all I know, but you have to be careful, changing solicitor will cost money, only to find yourself in exactly the same situation, so maybe a candid conversation with your solicitor, if you still lack confidence in your sol then talk to some others, find out what you could expect from their service.

As a general tip look for a practice with lexcel and resolution logos and rated legal 500.