Solicitors costs for divorce is this right ?

poppyscorner

Hi,

I'm having probs with the solicitor who handled my divorce when I first met her she quoted me £500 plus vat for her costs and a further £340 for the associated court costs.

She asked me to set up a standing order for £100 pm in the first instance to cover the costs which I did this was then reduced to £50 pm as I couldn't afford to continue with these payments.

This was agreed by her.

I have paid in total £1k made up of £700 in standing orders and a £300 cheque for the court cost for the actual divorce.

The solicitor wrote to me last dec stating that she was billing early to avoid the VAT increase in Jan10 and that so far my costs were £274 and that would be taken from my account all well and good half way through proceedings its what I expected but then after everthing was finalised this year she has sent me a bill for a further £722.78 !!

If that is correct then she trying to charge me 1722.78 for a straightforward divorce.

Our divorce was quite literally signing on the dotted line neither of us disputed anything agreements for the children were made and noted in the paperwork. There was no financial things to sort other than us both signing a clean break order everything agreed between ourselves the only complication we did have was one time when he was messing the kids contact about and a referral to mediation was made. I attended but he didnt and the mediator closed the case.

I had to chase the solicitors to make sure that things were being done and they made a mistake when applying for my decree nissi putting the wrong date of marriage which I had to point out and get them to change but other than that no issues no disagreements and very straightforward.

I have contacted them to dispute but they are trying to brush me off where do I go next does anybody know ?

Is it a high cost for the work done or is it right it is just so far away from the original cost its almost treble and I don't think they can justify that.

TIA
xx

bryanb

You can ask them for a breakdown of the charges, but they will probably charge you for preparing it. After that it's the Law society.
Think carefully before you do it, mine charges £200 + VAT per hour.

poppyscorner

bryanb wrote: »

You can ask them for a breakdown of the charges, but they will probably charge you for preparing it. After that it's the Law society.
Think carefully before you do it, mine charges £200 + VAT per hour.

Surely that cost should be waived though if it turns out you're right otherwise it could just be a free for all ? lol I can just see it now yeah you were right we overcharged you but heres another bill for us checking our mistakes ! Shocking really their charges are £170 plus vat p.hr so thankfully not as bad as yours

newcook

Did you get her original quote in writing? Oh, and I hope you have stopped your DD!!

poppyscorner

Hi newcook,

yeah I've got the £500 plus vat figure in writing twice I quoted it back to them today, and yeah I've stopped the standing order and advised them that I have done so until a resolution is reached i'm not sure if I was right to do that or not but they didn't argue with me about it.

Thanks
Poppy

newcook

in that case then I'd ask them what the rest of the money is for!! you have paid what you were quoted (and from my maths are owed about £7 change!).

poppyscorner

Yeah i did that just earlier on the telephone the only person that would speak to me was her secretary who insisted they were right and I asked for the solicitor to call me when she was free surprise surprise i'm still waiting ! Think i'll give it til the morning and then put it in writing am wary of that as they charge you to read letters too ! It feels like a bit of a no win situation atm

xx

newcook

cheeky so-and-so's!!! stay on hold until you get to speak to her! if she is apparently in a meeting, ask for the practice manager.
I deal with solicitors on a daily basis and have found the best time to get hold of them is about 4:50pm or as soon as they open in the morning (they may tell you they need to find your file and will call back - just ask to hold!) the worst time to get hold of them is fridays and lunchtime!!

Lance

Mine was useless. Always late. Sent petition to wrong address after I told her in person no to...... charged me for resending it. Every time they get a phone call they charge! Everytime they tell you an offer and you refuse they write back and charge you. It is a total con. In the end I haggled with ex and got a better deal than what they advised me to accept. About 6 months after the divorce they did an audit and 'found' I owed them more money.

janninew

That sounds really expensive! I was divorced last year and my solicitor charged a fixed fee (for a simple divorce, everything already agreed with my ex) and I paid 500.00. They advertise fixed fee divorces on their web-site, its 500.00 if your doing the divorcing, or 250 if your being divorced. Hope that makes sense!

booma_mitch

Hi
I was a family lawyer until a few years ago. Are you sure that the most recent bill is actually outstanding. Even if we already held the money on our client account (i.e. the money you had paid by standing order) we still had to raise a bill in order to deduct it from the money held on client account. Does it say on it anywhere that the full amount has been deducted from your bill and that there is a nil balance? Sometimes when I did my bills (usually a rush job at the end of the month) my secretary didn't always remember to check whether there was any money in client account to be taken off the bill before it was sent out and I would get (quite rightly) upset clients ringing up to see why I had billed them when they had paid so much already. I make the total that you should be paying to be around £1000 which from your op it appear that is what you have been charged and the money just needs to be transferred across from client account.

If however, you have already paid the quoted £500 plus vat and disbursements and this is an additional bill, has the solicitor done any other work in relation to finances such as drafting a Consent Order reflecting the terms of any financial agreement? If so, then this would not be included in the original divorce quote (well, it never was with me) but you should have been given a cost estimate in one of the first letters that were sent to you, called a client care letter. If this was not updated to include any further costs as the case went along then often the solicitor is bound by the original cost estimate.

If I were you I would get out your paperwork, have a look at any bills that you have been sent, check the dates and amounts. If these come to more than the orignal £500 plus bits estimate then you need to send a letter to your solicitor requesting a breakdown and an explanation as to why the costs estimate was exceeded. I would think though from what you have said that it is a case of the money for the second bill being sat in client account and nobody noticing that it needs to be transferred.

Hope that helps.