CAn I be an LIP and have solicitor on record acting for me?

[greenberet]

MY solicitor sent me to court on my own and in an email said “ as a LIp think judge will be more sympathetic to me”. She was on record still

Is this allowed please?

Yes, but you should really be filing a notice of acting in person, limited to that particular hearing. Had you paid her?

Yes paid - not told to file notice for hearing - think solicitor didn’t want to attend hearing as would have been representing me against sale of house when she wanted it sold so pot for fees and more likely to go to full final hearing

Totally mislead!

Judges can get totally frustrated by LIP. You may not get what you want if you don’t have a well presented case in a format the judge wants to hear. If you cannot pay, then you don’t have much option. If the house has to be sold anyway, you might have get a better deal with representation. Everyone needs wages, even solicitors.

THE hearing’s already taken place - I lost the home - - I got shafted by my solicitor I was hoping someone would say they can’t be acting for you still getting paid but advise you to attend court alone - I think it’s professional compromise

Couple of questions @Greenberet

This was a final hearing. How long was it listed for, and did you have a barrister booked?

What did your solicitor ask you to pay on account of costs prior to the hearing?

Did you/were you able to pay this?

@Collaborate - thank you - you don’t know how much this means to me seeing this just now

IT Was an interim hearing to force sale of house - this was against my wishes - there was an outstanding valuation on the company - x claim that he could not afford mortgage could be proved invalid - his statement not received til got to court - went into my solicitors spam folder - no barrister - just me on my own - with extreme stress and very emotional - got attacked by x barrister incourt - questioning my MH - highly suspicious and vengeful - pumelled me into a state where unable to function state my case - have email from my solicitor saying she’s concerned about me going on own - she has important meeting not sure she can move - basically in their interest house sold - they held equity - no issue over fees - account all up to date - she was on holiday week before - all week telling me just to agree to sell - why? Cos made her life easier and unlimited pot of money for fees!

Did they ask you to pay them on account of the cost of the hearing? I would almost never book a barrister without getting the money up front from a client. I'm just trying to think of reasons why she didn't prepare for the hearing and secure representation for you. failure to pay money when requested is the only reason I can think of. You saying your account was up to date doesn't answer my question. Your solicitor would need not just all bills paid up to date but also funds on account.

NO wasn’t asked to pay money - it wasn’t about fees - extremely acrimonious divorce - x manipulated sale of home - she didn’t believe me when I told her what he was doing - thought there was no value in company which again was a lie - I wanted to hold sale back until company valuation - her advise was it had to be sold - if she had come to court I would have wanted her to fight against sale of house - she didn’t want to- that’s why persuaded me to go on own. There was no issue over payment of fees I had a lump sum payout for breast cancer which they knew about.

Thanks collaborate I thought it might just be an easy answer

You were probably advised to sell or let the house go because in the circumstances it was the best advice. However if you have instructed the solicitor to fight this, they should have done as instructed, however if there is no money to pay them . . . they won't, as they can't work for nothing. It does sound a bit confused.

Just to reiterate there was no issue over fees - I had £150k sitting in a buildin society account from breast cancer diagnosis.

Solicitors were saying best advice to sell but based on false interpretation of facts - I wanted to fight the sale - this was not in their interests - they wouldn’t fight for me

Later on in process when I formally instructed solicitor to do something that exposed her error rather than admit this she terminated her waiver -
Thanks for replies