Solicitor Fee's

darrenreality

Hello all,

A bit of background for you all; around 3 years ago my ex partner stopped me from seeing our children when she found out I had a new partner (I was driving to see me children every day before this point.) A long story short I tried to take the children for an overnight stay against her will, and whilst she was trying to pull my eldest from my arms I unintentionally broke her finger. She of course pressed charges and I was not allowed to make any contact with her, which of course meant no chance at all of seeing my children. As you probably guess at this point I was desperate to see my children as it had been weeks since I'd spent any time with them, so I contacted a solicitor in order to take her to family court. I was earning enough money to cover the initial solicitor fee's but I knew that I wouldn't be able to afford to carry on paying these bills in the future, but I thought I'd worry about that later.

So I now had two solicitors (family solicitor being the far more expensive of the two) and was told that it would be quicker to plead guilty as the family courts were awaiting to hear of the outcome of my 'domestic abuse' case. In total I didn't see our children for 17 months, so that's 17 months of solicitor fee's. By the time I was back in contact with my children I had £5k still outstanding to my solicitors and we agreed that I would pay £300 a month, to which I did for 3 months, I then stopped paying and they didn't chase me.

Now 18 months after my last payment and with no communication from them in the meantime I have just been sent a letter stating that if I don't clear it in 14 days they will take 'further action'

I do not have £4k to give them, especially within 14 days.

Could anyone help me with what 'further action' is likely to be and if I do have any options that they wouldn't want to point out?

I received this email today and I am yet to reply, so the last they heard from me was 18 months ago

National_Debtline

Hi

Further action is likely to mean that they could start court proceedings. If they do so and you don’t dispute the amount they claim it’s normally done through the post or online.

It would be a case of the court setting an instalment amount you should pay each month based on your current finances. It’s only if you don’t pay a CCJ (County Court Judgement) that they could take enforcement action such as an attachment of earnings or the use of enforcement officers.

Before it comes to them going through court you could offer them an instalment plan based on a statement of affairs. It's better to avoid a CCJ if possible as it would be shown on your credit file for 6 years.

James
@natdebtline

darrenreality

Thank you for your advice guys, I really appreciate it!