legal aid help!

[mrslincoln]

help please! i have just been sent a bill for over £3000 by the legal aid agency and i am stressing. back in may i had to go to court to get an occupation order after my (now) ex throttled and threatened my son. I was told that i would get legal aid to cover the cost, which was a fixed fee of £1,300. i am not sure why the LA are demanding over £3K! it will use up all my inheritance.

has anyone else had a surprise bill from legal aid? i was just told i would be covered as it was domestic violence. who can i turn to for advice? is there an ombudsman? can i appeal? thanks for your time, mrs lincoln.

If you didn't comply with a means assessment query your certificate may have been revoked, in which case you'll have to reimburse the LAA with the full amount they pay out on your case. The initial cost limit will have been £1350 plus vat, but if it went to 2 or more hearings your solicitor may have needed to increase the cost limit.
When they drew up their bill they will have had to send you a copy and explain your rights.

hi and thanks for your speedy reply, i did comply with the means assessment query and sent them all my bank statements and details of the transactions, there was 2 hearings in total but the solicitor did not say it would cost more for the second hearing, they said it was a capped fee, the solicitor has not sent me any bill or explanation of rights as yet.

im having a nightmare applying for legal aid myself. to get it regarding anything to do with a child/ren when youve suffered domestic abuse, like i have. You need a letter from your dr stating that
"During of her examination the physical/mental condition. ie. depression was consistent with domestic violence and I have no reason to think it hasn`t been the cause by domestic violence"
You have to of spoke about your condition over the past 2yrs , to the dr. And been to the surgery regarding it a few times, for evidence. Have a letter stating you have been in a refue for atleast a day or a risk assessment from social services.
Get intouch with womens aid or letgo for advice. i have an advocacy from letgo who will attend appointments or meet with me to discuss worries, when i need her support
good luck
Ive only got wk n half to get proof still myself

Hi mrslincoln,

It doesn't surprise me that you have a large solicitors bill however there are steps you can take. Firstly, I would ask for a breakdown of these costs. Make sure that you actually agree to the work that you instructed.

If you agree with the work that has been undertaken then the second step, if you can't afford to pay it off in one go, is to make an offer of payment to them. I usually find that it helps if you provide them with an Income and Expenditure form. Your solicitors will now be classed as a creditor and, as such, will want fair proportion of your disposable income. To this end I would pro-rata your disposable income amongst your creditors so that all can see they are receiving a fair offer.

If they reject your offer of payment then they are at liberty to obtain a CCJ but, proividing you've sent them a copy iof your income and outgoings with a pro-rata offer of payment, they are unlikely to obtain any more monies by claiming a CCJ against you. They will know this.

Hope that helps.

In sorry, but that's entirely wrong.

When the hourly rate is £54 fir some things and £27 for others they'll have done a hell of a lot of work to get the bill that high.

If hearings last all day then the advocacy costs can be quite high, depending in the type of hearing it is.

They should have sent you the bill before they submitted it to the legal aid agency, explaining the interest you had in the amount of the bill and giving you 21 days to raise any objections. If they didn't do this you could contact the LAA.

The solicitor is not your creditor. Your creditor is the LAA.

PM me if you want.