Solicitor For Divorce Now Threatening To Stop Defending Me & My Court Case

Ramsay458

Hi ..........

tacpot12

If your solicitor won't defend you in court, you will have to, but in divorce proceedings you don't "defend" yourself, you "represent" yourself. 

If you own your solicitor money, and don't pay them, they will sue you, and you will have to defend yourself in any case where they are suing you for a debt. The court is likely to enforce the debt, but allow you to pay in installments, so you can suggest to your solicitors that they allow you to pay in installments. They don't have to accept your offer, they can still go to court. 

Have you tried to get a personal loan for your legal fees to date?

sassyblue

The length of time doesn’t seem unreasonable it’s the work that has racked up so far, I’m guessing this has been quite acrimonious? In any case if you’re going to court for the third time it must be the final case where a financial settlement is agreed? 

Why isn’t your solicitor satisfied that you will be paying your bill from the monies you stand to gain or are you pursuing something against their advice? From your post your solicitor seems a bit unreasonable but then we don’t have the full story.

Ramsay458

Yes court for the third time then if no agreement is reached a proof hearing to be raised.

I have paid my bill always on time for around 6 months but the last few months I have been struggling to pay. I pay what I can each month but now they are saying that’s not enough so they can no longer work on my case ? The property will be sold I have equity in the property I have offered that but no reply at all ?

Does anyone know if I can legally contact my ex wife’s solicitor and negotiate directly with them ?

bouicca21

How much money is at stake?  Would it be cheaper to settle rather then fight?  What can’t you agree?

Neruda

As others have said, some kind of loan is the obvious solution.

Having said that, it would be reasonable for your solicitor to defer payment until the proceeds of the house sale are available to you. The fact that they are not doing this might suggest that you are unlikely to win, or that there is a danger that legal costs will be greater than all the equity available. In which case, as always, you would do far better to reach some kind of compromise rather than fight in court.

Yes: you can write directly to your wife's solicitor. Bear in mind that anything you say could be used against you (although you can reduce this risk by writing the words "without prejudice" at the top of your letter). Whether or not the solicitor replies to you or offers anything useful depends on many things.

I had thought that family courts insisted on mediation before a first hearing: was that not useful? Anyway, perhaps you could seek another mediation meeting and simply agree to the best deal on offer.