Advice on finding a solicitor - being quote £150 initial fee then £250 per hour

[mysecretvalentine25]

My sister may be about to get a divorce. I've done a bit of calling around and found the above fees. A friend said she used a solicitor outside London when she had problems renting out her house. Would this work in a divorce case? I know the first couple of meetings would need to be face to face but thereafter most could be done by phone/email. Does this sound feasible? Thanks.

[lifeisunjust]

Why the need for solicitor? Does she like giving her money away? Mediation mediation and mediation.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Lifeunjust one or two meetings with a solicitor allow you to get a feel of what is likely to be agreed by the courts particularly for financial matters.

[mysecretvalentine25]

lifeisunjust He has been seeing prostitutes and doesn't seem to be making an effort to address the situation.
Thanks Lonecat

[lifeisunjust]

I don't think going further than 2 meetings with a solicitor will help.
Believe me, seeing prostitutes the courts have absolutely no interest in, it sucks but they really do not care. My husband attempted to kill me, got arrested for it, then announced he was a woman, ran off with 32k of the children's savings!!! All the courts are interested in is the law. The only bit the courts took any interest in was the money, he had the money he stole deducted from his settlement. Try avoid giving solicitors too much money.

[lifeisunjust]

I have to say £150 initial fee is extraordinarily high, but the £250 per hour afterwards is pretty standard.

I managed a 60 minute free consultation with an international law firm, the best 60 minutes I had. I didn't have much luck with anything else over the 2 years my husband spent trying to force his wife and children out of the family home to sell it to well fund whatever is needed, but that consultation was well worth it. So I would not want to spend £150 when some solicitors do have a conscience (think they are the minority).

There are law clinics attached to law schools, you could try there, do a lot of google searching.

[mysecretvalentine25]

I'm so sorry to hear of your experience lifeisunjust. Thanks for your advice.

[Laura812]

I used a solicitor in London but only had one meeting face to face. Everything else was by email and I negotiated the finances (the biggest issue for most people ) with my ex so we saved on legal fees and then had the lawyers draw up the financial order for the court to approve. We both found it useful to have a solicitor to ask questions of as to what was a reasonable financial settlement in our case.

[mysecretvalentine25]

Thanks Laura - I'm glad you managed to get it sorted so amicably.