Legal Aid

Black_Widow_2

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this.

At the end of 2002 I took out an injunction against my ex-husband, which was funded by the legal aid. In 2003 he broke the injunction and was order to pay the costs, I have the court order to show this. Because he didn't pay them the costs where put as a charge on my property in 2006. Since then I have been trying to find out how to get these monies back, The legal aid departmet told me that I would have to claim the costs back from him Since 2006 to now I have been to the CAB, put in a complaint regarding this and trying to get the costs back, which are now in the region of £15,000. Last month I went back to the court, again, that issued the order to make enquiries again. To be told that the costs should not have been charged against my property and that I am unable to claim the costs back, because the court order is in the name of my solicitor and that the costs should never have been put against my property. I am unable to go back to the solictior, who put the bill to the legal aid because they where struck off last year.

I have wrote a letter to legal aid, and have received no reply from them. I have been advised that I am unable to make a complaint because I made one when the costs where first put against my property.

Does any one have any idea what I can do.

somethingcorporate

Seems very complicated and you may need further legal advice to unravel it.

Can you go and see a solicitor for a free 30 minutes or see if you have legal cover on your home insurance?

Savvy_Sue

Go to the Solicitor's Regulatory Authority, not sure exactly what they're called, but I think they have a claim fund for dodgy solicitors.

agrinnall

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Go to the Solicitor's Regulatory Authority, not sure exactly what they're called, but I think they have a claim fund for dodgy solicitors.

That's almost what they're called, it's actually Solicitors Regulation Authority, website here http://www.sra.org.uk/home/home.page

Bossyboots

Can you confirm that the work covered by your legal aid ONLY related to injunctive work and there was nothing else undertaken on your behalf.

Have you written to the correct address to query the charge with the Legal Services Commission. How long ago did you write to them?

On the face of it, this should be simple to resolve as if the charge was incorrectly registered it can be removed and it is usually quite clear when a charge should be placed. However, the LSC is not best known for its efficiency and promptness of response to correspondence so although the rules are simple, execution of them is inconsistent.

Bossyboots

agrinnall wrote: »

That's almost what they're called, it's actually Solicitors Regulation Authority, website here http://www.sra.org.uk/home/home.page

At this stage, we don't actually know it was the solicitors who made the mistake. It may well be that it is the LSC who would have had a claim against the solicitors. Usually a charge is applied following notification to the LSC that it is due and things can get muddled with third party costs.

Black_Widow_2

Hi sorry to take so long in getting back on here, been trying to sort it out.

Heard from the Legal Services Commisson, there is nothing they can do. All they tell me to do is to pursue it myself, which I have told them numerous times I can't, because the court order is in the name of my solicitors.

It is the solicitors error, they have included the amount for the court order in their bill, I have a letter of confirmation from Legal Aid confirming this.

My solictor is no longer trading, they lost Legal Aid because they have been incorrectly billing Legal Aid for services.

I have been to the Solicitors Regulatory Authority, they can't do anything.

I have been to see a few solicitors and they all want money up front before advising me, which I am loath to do after what the courts have told me, that I can't pursue it myself becasue it's in the name of my solicitor and shoul never have been billed to me.

The Legal Services Commision said to go back to the Legal Aid department that covered my certificate, which I have, they forwarded to the Legal Services Commission. I feel like I'm going round in circles.

Thank you for your replies

Bossyboots

I am still not sure of the complete sequence of events. Firstly, the issue of the work actually undertaken is important. Was it only the injunction, or was there other work done? This is important in establishing whether you had any liability to the LSC at all. What usually happens in third party costs orders is that the LSC decide whether to authorise chasing those costs, based on a report from the solicitors. If the LSC paid the solicitors on the basis that it appeared futile to chase your ex, AND you had a financial liability to the LSC,(the statutory charge) then those costs would correctly be your responsibility and part of the charge applied to your property. On what basis do the LSC believe the solicitors made a mistake? Unfortunately, the response from the LSC can quite often rely on who happens to answer your query and may not always be correct.

Ordinarily, you would be responsible for your solicitor's costs, regardless of whether someone else was ordered to pay them. Only if they were recovered from the other party would your liability cease.

The way it looks at the moment is one of two position:-

1. The only work undertaken was injunctive and no assets were recovered or preserved in the proceedings - this would leave no liability to the LSC who would have paid all the solicitors costs.

2. Assets were recovered or preserved in work undertaken during the life of the certificate in which case all the costs were billed to the LSC, the statutory charge came into play and the costs were correctly applied to the charge against the property.

With the information given, I am not convinced the LSC are correct that the solicitors made an error.

bris

The other possibility is that the ex is still on the mortgage, and still seen as a joint owner.

Black_Widow_2

Hi the work undertaken, initially, was for an injunction to get my ex-husband out of my property after he broke in, later I decided to get a divorce so the solicitor lumped both cases on the same Legal Aid bill. I have two seperate case numbers one relating to the injunction and one to the divorce. I understand that becasue it later went to divorce proceedings I had to pay my costs, which I don't object to.

The costs that the court order relate to are for when my ex broke the injunction and it went back to court. The court order is in the name of my solicitors not me, and this is where my problem starts. I have tried to recoup them through the courts but it was thrown out becasue the court order is in the name of my solicitor and not me. I have found out since that the solicitor has ceased to operate due to loosing Legal Aid for incorrectly billing them for services.

I have spoken to the LSC and they have said becasue I have remortgaged my property to pay off the charge they will not pursue it. They don't understand how the charge was put on my property for this court order, but will do nothing about it becasue it has been paid.

The property is in my name only.

Bossyboots

Unfortunately, the LSC having failed its audits is now scrabbling about for every single penny they can get their hands on to try to balance the books. I am not surprised therefore that they say they can't return your money and while I thought there was nothing more they could do to surprise me, I don't understand how they can justify not returning money they admit was incorrectly charged to you.

The normal process for implementing the charge is from a form supplied by the solicitors. The only thing I can suggest is that you write a formal letter of complaint to here Central Complaints Handling Team at 102 Petty France, London, SW1H 9AJ, or by e-mail to [EMAIL="ho.complaints@legalservices.gsi.gov.uk"]ho.complaints@legalservices.gsi.gov.uk[/EMAIL]. In that, I would suggest you ask them to review the ADMIN1 or CLAIM1 submitted by the solicitors. The LSC may have correctly administered that form and you may have to eventually make a claim against the insurers of the solicitors at the time they did the work.

All that said, there is still an argument to be had that it is you that is responsible for your solicitor's fees even if an order was made for someone else to pay them. This is where I think you may struggle to make a case. However it is unlikely that the insurers would be able to prove now that you were told this important piece of information (it should have been in their client care letter) so you may be able to push them to make an offer of restitution. It makes no difference that they have been struck off, assuming of course that they were paying for insurance.

Don't worry about being told you can't make another complaint. The reasoning given is a bit odd but I would certainly give it another go as you have since found out further information. However, I wouldn't expect Court staff to know about the way legal aid and solicitors' costs work, so I would have to take with a pinch of salt what they told you about the costs not being put on your property. I am not entirely convinced that you should not have paid these costs, but as the LSC have told you that you shouldn't have you need to use that as your stick to beat them with.