Can you apply for LA after instructing a sol?

Not sure if this has been asked but I did have a quick look. Long story short, my stbx is dragging out ths contact order proceedings and I'm at the point where in the last 3 weeks I've paid out all my CTC & CB in legal fees. I've done this once already for the previous few weeks and this week will be similar due to the court hearing & solicitor meetings. So far £1200 and the ex is still demanding to get his own way but meantime, I'm struggling to put food on the table.

I had only a couple of days notice to get legal representation before the court date so had no time to get LA sorted. I'm fast running out of savings and don't know what happens once they dry up. Can you apply for LA from a point in time or is it only when you instruct your solicitor? What happens if you simply have no money left to pay a solicitor?

Ask your solicitor ASAP if you qualify, if so the solicitor may well act for you while the cert is obtained because they know they will be paid, this assumes of course that your solicitor accepts LA clients.

Your solicitor should advise you if you are entitled to legal aid or at any point that they believe that you may be entitled. However, the solicitor needs to be aware of your finances so you should ask them and have a note of your current finances to hand.

Charles

You see, this is what's baffling me. I brought in my financials a couple of weeks ago to apply for LA to initiate divorce. When I mentioned LA she said that you can only get LA if you apply before you instruct the solicitor. I told her the LA I was applying for was for the divorce and not the contact order case she's currently working on. I got the impression that because she was already working on the CO that it was too late for LA.

I didn't think it would cost that much for the CO case but £1200 later and I'm regretting not going to the bank and emptying my accounts.

Charles is right (after all he does this for a living) you can apply for legal aid if you become eligible, how much is the Consent Order costing? not £1,200?.

In the new SRA Handbook, Chapter 1 deals with client care and under the section Indicatadive Behaviours > Fee arrangements with your client > IB(1.16) it says:

discussing how the client will pay, including whether public funding may be available,
whether the client has insurance that might cover the fees, and whether the fees may
be paid by someone else such as a trade union;

It is therefore your solicitor's responsibility to advise you when you become eligible for public funding whether your solicitor can provide that level of public funding or not.

Charles

Ok I'll quickly summarise:

Late August Bank Holiday weekend on the Saturday I receive a summons to appear in court in relation to a Contact Order that my stbx has initiated. With it being a Bank Holiday and the court date being 5 days away (Thursday) I only had Tues & Wed to sort out legal representation. I had no idea about LA but mental calcs showed I was around £1000 over the limit. I have no income apart from CTC & CB so my savings have dwindled to the point that I can apply for LA.

Court date 1: interim order made. Date set for 6 weeks to return
Court date 2: stbx refused anything except overnight contact and will not compromise (2 very young kids)
Just after this court date I got legal bill for £600 for work to date.

Court date 3: this week. In advance of this appearance I have had to meet my solicitor to prepare a statement for the court, come back to read & sign it, the stbx was then allowed to respond. All this work has just cost another £600. This week I have to meet the solicitor tomorrow, appear in court on Thursday and then *if* the interim order is made permanent more paperwork to close the case but if a permanent award (or whatever it's called) isn't made then there's no way I can afford to keep being hauled back.

So yes, so far it's cost £1200 to defend the contact order even though the judge said on the first court date that the kids were too young. I know that's maybe too much info but it explains why it has cost so much.

I know I say I'm struggling to put food on the table yet I have savings but I'm in the marital home until the stbx's rental agreement runs up in January so the savings I have were meant for a deposit to rent a new place and buy a bed & sofa. There's not enough to cover that now so I'm having to scrimp on everything else so when he kicks me out (the house is in his name along with the mortage) I have enough to get a place of my own.

So Charles, you're saying that I can apply even though the solicitor has already been instructed and is working on the case? She mentioned ABWOR last time so not sure what she means. I'll be seeing her tomorrow but wanted my facts before I go in.

Thank you for the responses.