Can you arrange to pay a solicitor after the divorce?

[Chamomileteaplease]

Sorry, hard to put it into a heading!

I am asking for a friend. She desperately needs a solicitor to help her sort out how to deal with her awful husband with whom she is thankfully now separated.

However, she is suffering financially and with him only looking after the children occasionally and in her house and so life is tough for her.

She knows she needs to see a solicitor but has no funds but wouldn't be entitled to legal aid, even if she found a solicitor who does that. I am saying to her surely the solicitor would accept a payment from the sorting out of their finances ie the husband would have to pay as part of the settlement.

Am I right?

Most solicitors will offer a free consultation but most also require a sum of money to be put on to account before work commences - can vary between £250-£500 usually.. only speaking from personal experience. Hopefully others may have different advice and experiences xx

Thanks Rose. Yes she has had an initial consultation which was great.

Do you mean that if they received £250 - £500 they would then go ahead through to the end? I suppose that is a start!

She needs to contact solicitors to find out.

Most will do a free consultation but require money on account to start work, they then deduct from the balance every time they send a letter/email/take a call etc til it runs out then you top up, if work is completed and money is left they'll refund. I had to put £1000 on my file but many are different. She'd have to call some and find out I'm afraid as they don't all work the same.

Thank you everyone. Yes I shall tell her to actually speak to some firms to find out for sure.

Most places I’ve worked won’t. They want monthly payment, and as PP have said, money on account. Unfortunately divorce work is a nightmare as a credit risk so they’re usually pretty careful.

Not a family lawyer though so things might have changed.

When I worked for a divorce lawyer we took £500 on account up front and then billed monthly. I think most work like that. You need to ring round and check but I think it’s unlikely that they will do all the work on the expectation of getting paid at the end