Solicitor / investigator not replying to emails 9 December 2022 at 7:40PM in Marriage, relationships & families 5 replies 562 views

petelondon

hi

Please could anyone offer advice on my new gf's situation regarding the financial side of her divorce.
She got divorced late year, decree nisi was Nov 2021. So all that she is waiting for is the financials to be divvied up.
They had a shared house in France which the ex is getting , less £30K she has asked for as that was what she put in. Then they have a house in the Midlands with both names on the mortgage but she is paying so this will be hers.

The problem is her 'solicitor' has done nothing since this time in chasing up. She messages constantly but he never gets back to her. Her health isnt great anyway and this is adding to the stress. He has blamed covid. barristers strikes, french solicitors etc etc 
It seems he isnt a solicitor as such but an investigator who provides , according to the website, a wide variety of services to the legal profession.

I really want her to go to a proper solicitor to get things moving but how difficult would it be to get him to transfer all his documents to them.
Is there a legal obligation for him to do so ? She doesnt want to start everything from scratch.

I know it is easy to say just keep calling , emailing etc, but she suffers with ME and doesnt have the energy for the fight sometimes

any advice on this would be greatly appreciated so we can move on with our new life together

tightauldgit

Get a proper solicitor on the case today. There's no point waiting and waiting for someone who is clearly not doing the job. 

He should transfer any files that are needed but if he doesn't then it's surely quicker to get the new person up to speed on what's been agreed. if the agreement is in place are both sides are happy with it then it should be relatively straightforward to get a solicitor to formalise it all. 

Or are you saying there's a court order in place and the other party aren't complying?

TBagpuss

She needs to get a proper solicitor. 
Normally, if someone changes solicitors the old one is entitled to retain the file until their bill have been cleared, although as am atter of good practice they shuld release anything that needs urgent attention.

The barristers stikes were Criminal Barristers so would not have affected a family law case .

If they have an agreement then the new solicitor shouldn't need much from him that your sister can't provide .

They will be able to sibmit a notice of acting to get access to the court documents 

petelondon

thanks both for your replies.

Interesting that it was criminal barristers that were striking and the notice of acting
I will start asking a few local solicitors to see if they can take the case.

Just need some movement on this . I will certainly be reporting this individual to the law Society afterwards

Savvy_Sue

petelondon said:

Just need some movement on this . I will certainly be reporting this individual to the law Society afterwards

That's only going to be useful if they are registered. A solicitor has to be. You can check if this person is: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/register/

TBagpuss

petelondon said:

thanks both for your replies.

Interesting that it was criminal barristers that were striking and the notice of acting
I will start asking a few local solicitors to see if they can take the case.

Just need some movement on this . I will certainly be reporting this individual to the law Society afterwards

If they are not a solicitor then they are unlikely to be registered with the Law Society or SRA, although they are not a solicitor but are cliaming to be one you can report that. 

Check their website to see if they say who the regulated by / what memberships they hold. 

Your partner may ned to make a formal compalint to him direct before escaliating to any other body; if she does so, she should be very clear about hwat she is seeking (e.g. an apology, reduction int heir bill / refund lof payments lready made  etc)