Slow Solicitor

tightauldgit

chewthecarpet said:

Thank again. I have a little more light: the solicitor has contacted my sister and said that 'several' letters have been sent, which have been ignored, so he proposes to engage a barrister and go to court. The barrister said that he wishes to explore mediation first, but I don't see how that is possible unless it is through the court, forcing the ex to open dialogue.

What specifically are they applying to the court for? A financial order or a forced sale of the house? I think the former needs you to have explored mediation but either party can simply refuse to do it and then it defaults to court anyway. 

A court won't force you to go to mediation. 

tightauldgit

tooldle said:

Mediation will to an extent force the ex’s hand. If the ex chooses not to engage with mediation, that choice will not well with a judge. Don’t forget, there are costs at stake as well as the property. Are there any special circumstances involved?

In my case the judge wasn't bothered in the slightest that my ex refused mediation. No reason was ever given and it was never raised as an issue in court. It was just a complete waste of money having to get a MIAM 

chewthecarpet

Thank you, it is a forced sale order.

tooldle

chewthecarpet said:

Not that I am aware of. Obviously costs are a big part of the situation and could have been kept to a minimum if the ex had been reasonable.

Being reasonable is subjective. 

Are there any children involved, even if not from that relationship. I mention costs as with a straightforward matter, where one party has without reason obstructed a process, a sharing of the resultant costs might be ordered. 

chewthecarpet

No, no children involved.

chewthecarpet

More bad news, the solicitor now says that he cannot proceed unless my sister pays the barrister's fees up front, even though she has a contract that states that she will only have to pay the bill once she gets the money from the property. So now she is back to square one and has a bill of £1500 to pay for nothing! Any advice?

Thanks.

tightauldgit

chewthecarpet said:

More bad news, the solicitor now says that he cannot proceed unless my sister pays the barrister's fees up front, even though she has a contract that states that she will only have to pay the bill once she gets the money from the property. So now she is back to square one and has a bill of £1500 to pay for nothing! Any advice?

Thanks.

Yeah I think that's pretty standard. Barristers are self-employed and generally require payment in advance. Completely separate from solicitors fees or any agreement on those. Worse still... ask me what happens when you pay a barrister £2000 for a day in court and then your court hearing gets cancelled the night before???

The only thing I can suggest is to tell the solicitor that you cannot afford a barrister and therefore are unable to engage one. Ask if they are willing to represent you in court and if they say no then try to find another solicitor that will. 

Other than that it's beg/borrow/steal the funds to get the barrister and then pay back after you get the settlement. 

tooldle

You sister does not have a bill of £1500 to pay for nothing. Work has been done, letters have been sent and a way forward suggested. At roughly £200 per hour it doesn't take much to run up such a bill. Barristers are self employed. It is the norm to pay in advance as there will be prep work to do on the case. The barrister will likely want to meet with your sister. It is not a case of turning up to court on the day and winging it from there. 

tightauldgit

It's also worth trying to put things into perspective. While £1500 is a lot of money, relative to the value of a house it's not very much. I don't think you said the value of the property but even if it's 250,000 then that's potentially £125k (or more) that could be sitting in your bank account earning 3 or 4% interest (which would be £4-5k a year).

So it probably makes sense to pay the barrister and get the thing done ASAP if it's at all possible. Otherwise more time will be potentially lost and/or you don't get as good a share in court and/or the house isn't sold at all. 

chewthecarpet

Thank you. My sister will have to find a new solicitor who hopefully, is more helpful.