Solicitor Threats for Debt

The Minkin case decision was based upon an unlawful end to the retainer such that the solicitor broke the contract and without a contract no fees are payable.

It is perfectly proper to end the retainer if fees remain unpaid but adequate notice has to be given. In Minkin, the position was complicated further by the costs estimate which was exceeded. The solicitor should have continued to act and reduced the fees accordingly but by backing out the contract was unlawfully ended.

Charles

Crucial things seem to be did the solicitor exceed the estimate and what did the retainer letter say the solicitor would do before that happened?

www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed79959
"47. In my judgment it cannot be said that the Master was wrong in concluding that Mr Minkin had reasonable justification within clause 6 for withholding payment on the balance of the invoice issued on 31 July 2009. At £5,472.50 it exceeded the estimate of £3500 + VAT by a considerable margin. The estimate was important to Mr Minkin because he had limited funds, a fact Mr Cooper knew. Although in the retainer letter the firm undertook to give written notice of an estimate being exceeded, no advanced warning had been given to Mr Minkin when the estimate was exceeded. The first time he knew that this had occurred was when he received the invoice. Not surprisingly, Mr Minkin questioned, and questioned it promptly, on 3 August 2009. From his point of view little had been achieved at that point. The hearing had been adjourned until October. The case was still continuing, so the estimate would be exceeded by an even larger margin than in the invoice."

Is your situation close enough to Minkin for that to be a precedent you can use?

Thanks maggie. Have saved to look closely.

I''ve revived this old thread as I can see me falling out with my solicitor. Final Hearing was nearly a month ago and it didn''t go the way my solicitor and barrister told me it would, in fact I pretty much got screwed on everything!

Still waiting for a de-brief from my solicitor and his expert advice on what I can do next, including appealing. I have had a couple of short telephone conversations and email exchanges but nothing of substance and time is passing by.

Then through the post a few days ago I get an invoice and covering letter from him stating it is his ''final invoice for bringing the case to conclusion''! This explains why he has been reticent at going any further IMO: he knew from the outset that any money I had was tied up in the equity in the FMH and we verbally agreed that a final lump sum for his services would be paid when the house was sold. As his efforts have failed to secure this result he now wants paying in full when I am currently on the verge of bankruptcy...

Feel terribly let down and on my own now...

The problem is no one not even a barrister can tell you what will actually be decided at a final hearing, anyone who says they can is taking rubbish.

You could give exactly the same circumstances to three judges of equal experience and they could give three outcomes, all about the same, but there are many roads to the same destination.

Bear in mind appeals can only be made for specific reasons, i don`t like it is not one of them, appeals can only be made within a certain time of the judgement so be careful with that, lastly don`t think about appealing unless a lawyer or preferably a barrister thinks you have a decent chance of winning, remember the loser pays at appeals.

I believe the decision was not based on factual evidence as my stbx failed to provide any. I also believe the final outcome was not fair on both parties, taking into account factual evidence I provided. The judge based his decision on lies my stbx stated under oath, especially about her future earnings. The order (which I''m still waiting for a completed version of in writing) is vague and gives no timescales: my stbx has already breached a number of sections of the order but I have no idea what to do about it!

dukey wrote:

The problem is no one not even a barrister can tell you what will actually be decided at a final hearing, anyone who says they can is taking rubbish.

You could give exactly the same circumstances to three judges of equal experience and they could give three outcomes, all about the same, but there are many roads to the same destination.

I know that the final decision is in the hands of one judge but I guess I was naive enough to put my full trust in my solicitor as he had years of experience in divorce cases and I had none.

My stbx has not co-operated with ANYTHING or ANYONE, including her initial solicitor who in the end lost patience with her. No letters have been replied to, none of the forms were completed properly or on time, no written evidence was provided, she has been abusive to my solicitor and my barrister and even talked back to the judge....

I have played EVERYTHING by the book and spent a fortune: the stbx had legal aid (it was taken off her for a number of reasons) and has not spent a penny....

Justice eh?