Legal aid taking life savings ?

dmjscott

To cut a story short my mother who’s is 69 , was due to have a trial against her , on the day she changed her plea to guilty , the trial was for a conspiracy with 18 other co accused .....

so her solicitors told her don’t worry we’ve sort legal aid blah blah well after her jail time legal aid handed her £140,000 bill for them turning up in court twice . 

They’ve have seized her £25,000 life savings and she had a joint house with my father and they are trying to seize  her half off that . 

They are leaving them broken the money they took was her pension from working for the nhs for 30 years ..

she did wrong she never benefited from the wrong doing they’ve agreed that before that gets said . 

Can they leave her broke and take half her house ? 

elsien

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/work-out-who-qualifies-for-criminal-legal-aid
They should have completed the means test and advised your mother of her eligibility or otherwise before starting work on her case.  What paperwork did she have with regards to the legal aid application and ongoing work, what did she sign? 
Was it crown court, as the guidance states "If your client has above £30,000 in capital and equity and is convicted they may have to contribute towards any remaining balance against their final defence costs." 
Full details in the link with regards to contribution orders and maximum amounts. 
Is there a law centre or anything near your mum who she could get further more clear explanations from?

dmjscott

Basically my mum was past pillar to post on solicitors , they new she was going guilty so they was more interested in the parties going not guilty ... so she met her solicitor the day before the trial that is no joke that’s how these people work......

we are in north wales I carnt find a law centre ... 

we are never going to argue that she needs to contribute but if they take it all they leave them having to sell the house she has no savings they’ve taken her pension etc 

elsien

She must have agreed which solicitor's firm to appoint to represent her at some point before the trial date. Even if she then had very little to do with them before the day itself. 
Perhaps she needs to send a subject access to the solicitors firm to clarify what she agreed to and when and to check that she was given the necessary information before agreeing for them to go ahead with representing her. 
Have they sent a breakdown as to how the final sum has been reached?
ETA - before Covid, some solicitors were doing free half hour consultations. Could your mum see if there are any remote versions of those operating at the moment, to at least get an idea of where she stands. 

dmjscott

Yes she agreed for say this solicitor to represent her but then they laid her off with another firm and they did the same , I know you think that doesn’t happen it does there was 18 co accused so the top off the tree got the leading roles and then it my mum was passed through a few solicitors ...... I’ve got the £140,000 bill in front of me it has no break down just the bill and the land search they did on mh
mums property 

I will be honest I was in prison at the time my mum was getting a solicitor she is 69 well 71 now and it’s sad but the fear and knowing she was going to jail she doesn’t remember what she signed ....

my point she has half off a house with my dad I’ve seen that they carnt seize the whole house as my dad has a share ... basically she wants to pay her way but be left with something to pay the bills... she wouldn’t off knowingly signed up to be made homeless , 

Grumpelstiltskin

Assuming England or Wales all the information is here.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/work-out-who-qualifies-for-criminal-legal-aid
I assume it was explained to her about eligibility.

elsien

dmjscott said:

Yes she agreed for say this solicitor to represent her but then they laid her off with another firm and they did the same , I know you think that doesn’t happen it does there was 18 co accused so the top off the tree got the leading roles and then it my mum was passed through a few solicitors ...... I’ve got the £140,000 bill in front of me it has no break down just the bill and the land search they did on mh
mums property 

I will be honest I was in prison at the time my mum was getting a solicitor she is 69 well 71 now and it’s sad but the fear and knowing she was going to jail she doesn’t remember what she signed ....

my point she has half off a house with my dad I’ve seen that they carnt seize the whole house as my dad has a share ... basically she wants to pay her way but be left with something to pay the bills... she wouldn’t off knowingly signed up to be made homeless , 

Which is why she needs to get onto them and make a formal request for all the information they hold on her. Starting with the last lot and moving backwards if needed. 
Has she tried contacting the solicitor directly to get them to explain the bill and the costs? Is the letter from her last solicitor or from legal aid? There must be contact details on it somewhere to get clarification. 
I'm making guesses here, but I'm wondering if they may be looking to put a charge on the house, or similar, so that as and when it is sold they eventually get their money then. Sort of a deferred payment type thing.
There would normally be something somewhere about if you think the decision is wrong, etc  - is there nothing like that?
 

dmjscott

Your guess is 100% correct they are trying to put a charge on the house .... but if I’m correct they carnt put a charge on the house as it’s jointly owned with my dad ? 

I’m taking over this the solicitor is a dirt bag and she gets fobbed off with he’s not there for the last 2 years so I’m trying my best to get hold off this for her ..

when I say carnt put a charge I mean they carnt for force her to sell it as it’s jointly owned ... 

im currently trying to ring this solicitor up now 

elsien

They can register a charge with the land registry for her share of it. So they may not be able to force a sale but at the point the house needs to be sold (such as when your parents pass away, or they go into care, or various other reasons such as downsizing) they can recoup the money owed at that point. 
In terms of income to live on, (and again this is a guess) what they take may be means tested with regards to affordability. Whether they can take dad's income into account when doing this, I don't know. I would expect not. But if her NHS pension does go, and if the joint income household is low, then they could still apply for benefits. They should not be left with nothing. 

According to this link an application could be made to court to force a sale, but the final decision would be the courts after taking into account all the relevant factors. Such as their age, the impact on your dad, etc. 
https://england.shelter.org.uk/legal/home_ownership/order_for_sale
Has she had any previous letters that she's done an ostrich impression with?

dmjscott

Elsien thank for the reply and depth of it aswell what I’m going to do is get all the paper work infront of me this weekend , somethings I’m guessing aswell . 

I really don’t think it’s bin a case of burying her head it’s a case of sign here will sort and passed through numerous solicitors I’ll try get the correct correspondence this weekend 

Galloglass

If you do not have a law centre near you then find out where there is one you can access. Citizens Advice may be able to help.

The situation you describe is not unfamiliar but tends to occur in cities and not rural areas of Wales. Legal Aid works almost like a Conditional Fee Arrangement where the costs are recovered from the losing party. The presumption is that the client is innocent so costs will be recovered from the state. It appears the guilty/non-guilty issue will be the problem but at least get advice before you or she goes further.