Disputing solicitors fees?

[Immaculateconception]

Can anybody advise me on disputing solicitors fees? Have received a summons from the small claims court from my former solicitors. Back in 2005 my solicitor wrote a letter confirming a conversation that we had regarding costs. I had just received some money due to the sale of a house and I wanted to make sure we had enough to pay them. I was quoted £2500 and that was supposed to be over the odds. I wasn't then informed of any costs or anything to do where the money was going until last year when they told me the money had run out and we had to pay them more. Am I right in saying that they needed to inform me of what everything was going to cost and keep me informed of everything that was happening with the case. I would also have to write my own statements and send them to the court and once didn't receive a CAFCASS report that was due to me, I did complain to the solicitors who then got stroppy with me about it.

YOu need to paste on here what their letter ot you about fees said. If it said this is an estimate it may be more then it's not a fixed quote. If it said we will tell you before we over that level then they should not have done. It all depends what the words were in the document you were sent. If you do not have a copy then ask them for another now.

Dated 23rd September 2005

Dear XXX

This is just to say that I confirm it would be a good idea if you earmarked £2500 as monies on account in respect of these proceedings. I do not expect the account to reach that much but it would be sensible to over cater rather than under!

Yours sincerely

XXXX XXXX

Okay so you need to find something else from them too. They have to send you their conditions of engagement the first time you do work for them .Those will include sections on fees and what money they can take from where.

From the baove it looks like they had at least £2,500 from somewhere - you or what was recovered? The above statement does not say - we will not exceed £2,500 without your permission.

That is the only letter that I have received down to costs. She was never keen to inform of how the case was going or inform me of who my barrister was or how much I was to pay him. From what I do know of the service I received it was really poor. She never returned any of my calls and due to the fact that I now live 360 miles away from the firm, I was always under the impression that I was forgotten about until I bugged her to do something or she finally contacted me about my money running out in July of last year. Surely if the money was running low she should have warned me? Like I also say I never received a CAFCASS report and would also send my own statements to the court.

We paid them that when our house sold and the case was started. The case was bought by my ex husband to do with my children. I called her when we got the money through and asked her what the fees would be and that was the letter that I received back.

Interesting. So did they do the legal work on the sale of the house? If so they probably sent you a letter about fees when that happened. You could fax them tomorrow and ask for them to send you all copies of what they have sent out on fees. Ask them to send you a copy of the client care letter. How much more than the 2,500 they already have are they asking for and have they sent you a bill with the detail of the work they did on it?

They are wanting an extra £3,700 on top of what we have already paid them. The sale of the house was dealt with by my partner's solicitors and my case was dealt with by the firm of solicitors that I instructed when I was living in Cornwall. These are the ones that I paid £2,500 too. When I moved in with my partner, I was no longer entitled to legal aid as my partner had a house and a job. When his house sold my solicitors said that they wanted £2500 which we paid them. They only informed us in July 2007 that we owed them £3000 extra and that the money we had already paid had run out. The letter that I copied onto here is the only letter that we have received to do with the cost. When they informed me of the money running out was through a phone call. No bill came to us to explain where all our money had gone.

Hi, sorry am a bit confused. What type of action was the legal aid certificate granted for? Was it concerning conveyancing fees etc?

Ok, let me start from the begining. I left my abusive ex husband in 2003 and instructed my solicitors to proceed with a divorce for which I received legal aid. In 2004 I moved away from my home town and ex husband and moved in with my partner, who worked and owned a house, so of course the legal aid stopped. In 2005 my ex husband started access proceedings for my children for which we were informed by my solicitors in Cornwall that we would need to pay for all work that they did. My partner decided to sell his house and buy a new one for all of us and when his solicitors sold the house, we were obviously in a position to pay my solicitors regarding the access to the children. We were told only once by my solicitors in September 2005 that we would need to pay them £2500, which we did. Only in June of 2007 were we informed of the fact that the money had run out and we owed them £3,700, which what they are taking me to court for.

Ok, sorry am still so confused - as you must be!! You had an action for divorce (to which you rec'd legal aid - yes??) Did you receive any financial settlement from this case, ie was the marital home sold and you received monies?

You moved in with you partner so presumably any legal aid would stop.

As for other actions etc...I would ask your solicitor for a breakdown of the fees. Is it them chasing you for money or the legal aid board (or the equivalent in England) I only ask because in Scotland (I think) if you receive legal aid for any action and then make a recovery you are liable for the costs....is this making any sense???

Legal Aid in England for divorce proceedings. No money ever received from ex husband and the house we lived in was HA home.

Legal Aid stopped in 2004 when I moved in with partner who had equity in the house and a job.

My solicitors have never sent me anything except the letter that I copied onto here. Have requested all paperwork to do with the case and they refused. They are the ones that are chasing me for an extra £3,700 on top of the £2500 that they have already received. No notification whatsoever from them saying that we were running out of money until a phone in June 2007 saying that we owed them £3,700.

Am I correct in saying that when they were instructed by myself in 2004 for private work that they should have sent me a letter stating all their costs? and should they have informed me sooner of the money running out?

Yes, of course they should inform you of the costs, especially if they are likely to run so high. They cannot refuse to give you a breakdown of the costs - thats crazy! In Scotland you can report them to the Law Society for this kind of behaviour.....not sure about England but if I were you I would contact them about making a complaint and I would also let your solicitor know that you are doing that.

Yes, I and I think karen were trying to get at whethjer you had recovered money in the legal aided matter which is in fact a loan from the legal aid fund I think if you incur costs of more than a certain amount (£3k?) and then if you say get half a house from an ex husband then the legal aid people can get the money out of what you recover but that's irrelevant here as you recovered no money.

So when you instructed them to do the work on the child residence they should have estimated the costs in writing. I would have thought if you put all this to them in writing saying they have breached or appear to have various rules on costs they might back down int he case.

They have sued you for fees. If you do not defend that they will win so you also need to draw up a defence to that. If the time on that has still a bit to run then you might be able to get them to withdraw the case in the meantime. Might be worth going to the CAB with this thread having called teh Law Society too to ask what they ought to have sent you about costs.

They should send a bill too which describes the work done and how many hours and the bill ought to say ho you can challenge it and within how much time you have to challenge it.

Do you know how much per hour they were charging and have a feel for whether £2500 plus 3700 £6,200 represents the time they did spend - say 40 hours at £150 an hour or do you think they spent about 2 hours. In other words do you think they really didn't spend this time or that they did but ought to have told you about it?

Hi, just got in from work. Thanks for the advice, will give the Law Society a ring and see what they say. Have had a look on their website and it does say that solicitors are supposed to give out a breakdown on all of their costs, which I never have had. As for work done, I did actually write a letter to the senior partner of the company complaining about my solicitor and the fact that I was having to write my own statements and continually chase her for work that needed to be done.

Your Solicitor sounds shit IC

I write to my clients at the outset of EVERY case setting out likely costs. I then write every 3 months telling them what the costs are to date and that i have either taken teh money from the monies held on client account, or claimed from teh LSC, or asking them to pay the bill.

If the estimate I originally gave changes, I write to client and tell them

Its very odd that they won't provide information to you. DO phone law society