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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To expect my solicitor not to send me someone elses divorce papers with full financial disclosure?

29 replies

Ladyanonymous · 22/03/2010 10:39

I received a letter on Saturday from my solicitor re my divorce.

As I read on to my dismay I realised I have been send a court summons and details of a financial settlement, including offshore accounts in Guernsey of someone else?s divorce, the only common denominator being that the other respondent and myself have a similar Christian name (mine is the shortened version of hers).

Been trying to get through to Solicitor all morning to no avail....AIBU to think this is bloody unacceptable and to worry about where all my documentation may have gone....any ideas as to what course of action I should take (other than seriously considering changing my legal representation)?!

OP posts:
Servalan · 22/03/2010 10:43

Wow, that is beyond crap! YANBU at all

Bessie123 · 22/03/2010 10:43

Go on, dish, who's the solicitor?

Librashavinganotherbiscuit · 22/03/2010 10:45

Sounds much more interesting than a shopping list in a trolley.

brimfull · 22/03/2010 10:47

bloody hell
can you contact the person whose info you got?
the shitola will hit the fan

Hassled · 22/03/2010 10:49

That's shockingly bad - I don't know what, if any, legal recourse you have but the apology had better be pretty damn grovelling.

WingedVictory · 22/03/2010 10:52

Oh, definitely change your solicitor and urge the other person to change, too!

Whatever professional body s/he belongs to should also take an interest. As you pointed out, that's at least 2 clients compromised.

Original poster
Ladyanonymous · 22/03/2010 10:55

Ggirl..that was my initial thought but I only have her soon to be ex husbands address, the address of the trustees, along with bank statements and several other adresses but no phone number.

Just spoke to his secretary who has given me a grovelling apology, said that is isn't a client of theirs and they are just passing them on for the court and would I mind "popping them back in"!!!!

OP posts:
WingedVictory · 22/03/2010 11:00

Oh, grrr, let them pop in and get it themselves. Lazy AND incompetent!

WingedVictory · 22/03/2010 11:00

And let the ex husband on the documents know what has happened to his details.

Morloth · 22/03/2010 11:01

Ack! Don't read it and send it back ASAP and tell them!

The done thing in legal circles where this happens (and it does happen) is that everyone pretends that it has not as far as any "disclosure" that has happened (so if it is sent to the other side in error, they don't use the information and so on) and the person responsible gets in trouble.

It may have been the solicitor, it may have been the secretary, it may have been the mailroom. You need to let them and know ASAP.

God I feel sick just thinking about it!

JustAnotherManicMummy · 22/03/2010 11:03

Oh gosh no I'd stay well out of it. You've had an apology, it wasn't your details. I'd send it back and leave it be.

Have you never made a mistake before?

TheSugarPlumFairy · 22/03/2010 11:03

oh lordy. They need to be sending the office junior around on their bike to pick those up from you post haste.

It is a breach of client confidentiality and they would probably be due a bollocking from the law society if you were to report them and make a complaint. Doubt it would go any further than that though. The other party might have a professional claim against them though if by disclosing those details they have caused them a loss.

Ring the secretary back and tell her it is not convenient to get to their offices but you will be in (assuming you are) if they want to send someone over.

Basically it is not your responsibility to make this right.

Dogandbone · 22/03/2010 11:07

YANBU. How worrying.

emsyj · 22/03/2010 11:10

YANBU to be but solicitors (and their secretaries, and their post room staff) are just people and yes, they do sometimes make mistakes. I think complaining to the Law Society (or Solicitors Regulation Authority it would be these days) would be massively OTT and they would think you were a bit precious for thinking that this sort of mistake (which is normally dealt with as Morloth has set out and) warranted disciplinary action.

If you think they are lazy and give crap advice then get another solicitor. I wouldn't change solicitor over one mistake like this, but would want to feel that they were doing an excellent job in all other respects.

RumourOfAHurricane · 22/03/2010 11:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Morloth · 22/03/2010 11:17

Trust me, each individual person only ever does this once (unless they are completely crap at their jobs).

I did it once, but thank god it was to a big government client and the person I sent it to was another secretary and knew the "rules".

So easy to do when you have a huge pile of mail on your desk with matching envelopes and the rush is on to get to the post office before 5pm etc. No excuse, but this sort of thing does happen because people make mistakes.

Original poster
Ladyanonymous · 22/03/2010 11:19

I am not wanting to go for anyones balls here, I am a reasonable human being and I do realise that we all make mistakes. I genuinely believe it was an error, I just wanted to gauge how serious others percieved it to be and whether it should be persued.

However, I also work in a role where I handle confidential information and I have never managed a blunder of these proportions.
...and who hand on heart would like to think that a complete stranger has in their possession all their personal financial and personal intimate details of their divorce?!

Think I will take it back (I didn't purposely go through it with a fine tooth comb but I had read quite a bit before I realised it didn't relate to me!!).

OP posts:
SpicedGerkin · 22/03/2010 11:21

Actually at the very least i'd expect their mistake not to put me out, so no i wouldn't be popping it back in, i'd expect them to send someone for it.

Yes people can and do make mistakes, doesn't mean we should let them go.

Original poster
Ladyanonymous · 22/03/2010 11:21

And the letter had my name address on it but then went into details of this other couples divorce so it wasn't a case of the wrong papers being put in the wrong envelope....

OP posts:
Morloth · 22/03/2010 11:23

They have used a form letter then and not updated the address for the correct letter.

Tell them to send a courier to collect it, it is the least they can do and they should do that asap.

lal123 · 22/03/2010 11:26

these sort of posts confuse me. Do you expect folk to reply that you are being unreasonable and that is it acceptable for a solicitor to send you someone else's information?

MmeLindt · 22/03/2010 11:27

I agree with Morloth, get them to send a courier around to pick them up.

I would not take it any further, it was a mistake.

MmeLindt · 22/03/2010 11:28

Of course it is not acceptable, but it was likely a low paid secretary who made the mistake. Would you want her to lose her job over this?

Original poster
Ladyanonymous · 22/03/2010 11:29

lal123...just wanted to see what others thought was a reasonable reaction...and does this happen all the time and AIBU to feel pretty mortified...esp when I think about how much I am paying for their "service"

OP posts:
Morloth · 22/03/2010 11:32

Yes it does happen (not regularly but sometimes) and is simply a human error and has nothing to do with their "service".

As I said I have done it, I got a royal bollocking from my boss which was totally deserved and learned to triple check everything from then on.

It isn't a "sackable" offence (unless it keeps happening) and certainly won't be taken seriously by the Law Society.