How do I end legal aid cert without incurring costs

eclareb

Can anyone advise on this?

Ive been granted a legal aid cert - i have to pay a contribution every month.

My ex taking preceedings against me. He is choosing to represent himself.

I want to cancel my legal aid cert but I dont know how to do this. I want to ensure that the work my solicitor has done for me so far is covered by the cert and I wont have any outstanding bill. I cant afford the monthly payments - and its gauling that my solicitor is writing letters to keep my ex informed and chasing around after him, when its him thats bringing the proceedings in the first place. Hes just playing games and I dont want to be worse off because of this.

Any advice please?

teeni

are you saying that you do not want to defend yourself against your ex i these proceedings. if so just instruct your solicitor and he wont be instructed any longer and the cert will stop ,

However Notnecessarily a sensible thing to do as your ex will then get everything he wants.

the plus of a legal aid cert is that you are coverd should the case go against you for a costs award of the other parties fees, even if he is representing himself he will incur court costs etc. Also once you have had legal aid awarded for a matter you cant have another for the same issue again so think very carefully before taking this course of action. Why dont you actually discuss it with your solicitor and see what can be done to speed things up

DVardysShadow

Do you have evidence of the solicitor writing unjustified letters and incurring unnecessary expense? If you do, it is a professional standards matter.

eclareb

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Do you have evidence of the solicitor writing unjustified letters and incurring unnecessary expense? If you do, it is a professional standards matter.

No I dont suppose I have any evidence.



Everytime my solicitors say theyre going to do something, if I say Im not happy with it or I would like to change something the answer I get is 'theres nothing you can do about that'....

They instructed a barrister to act for me at the last hearing. When I said I didnt understand why? I thought that it would just be someone from the firm that would represent me. Her answer was errr...... well, everyone is really busy, we are here there and everywhere. Anyway, it wont make any difference to you!

I think they have just taken the easy option and thought well shes got a certificate so we will farm the work out and someone else can stand in front of the judge.

These proceedings are for access only. No money involved. I have never denied or hindered any access to the child. He just likes to play games. Hence his no show at the last court hearing (despite cafcass ringing him to verify the date time and venue the day before!!)

Im working now and im worried that if they find out I will have to repay everything so just thought it would be better to stop it now before the solicitor gets me into stupid amounts of debt because its the easy option for them.

daska

Barristers and solicitors specialise in different areas. It would not be usual for your solicitor to accompany you, they would usually instruct a barrister to do the talking bit in court. There are quite strict rules about what has to be done in terms of keeping the court and the other party informed so it may well be that the solicitor has no choice but to write these letters.

At the end of the day you're lucky to have the legal aid certificate as it puts you in a better position financially. My DSD's mum ruined us financially by stringing out the residency case for over 2 years - just because she could...

Nicki

Speaking as a former solicitor it's often actually cheaper to send a fairly junior barrister to do a hearing, than to do it yourself. The barrister will charge a flat fee for the whole hearing however long it takes, and the solicitor's hourly rate will often be more than that if the hearing takes any time at all.