Can an old attorney charge the new attorney a fee to transfer a clients case file?

I have seen your question. My name is David Salvaggio.  I have more than 35 years of legal experience and head a law firm that devotes its practice exclusively to New Jersey Divorce and Family Law matters.  Please feel free to take a look at our Firm Website (www.salvaggiolaw.com) for further information about my firm.  The answer to your question is: NO--BUT... When a lawyer who has previously represented a client in a New Jersey Family Law matter is asked to provide his/her file to the client's new lawyer, the previous lawyer must do so.  However, the previous lawyer is entitled to retain a copy of all documents, and the previous lawyer is entitled to be paid for the duplication costs (as well as any delivery costs, if the file needs to be sent to the new lawyer).   In addition, some Retainer Agreements provide that, if at any time the lawyer is required to retrieve a file from storage, the lawyer must be paid a retrieval fee, because the lawyer has to pay rent for a storage facility.     It is the responsibility of the CLIENT--not the new lawyer--to pay these fees. (Very often, however, the new lawyer will offer to advance the fees on behalf of the client, in order to expedite the transfer of the file.  Good lawyers will always provide clients with copies of documents during the course of the representation, and if the client keep those copies, it may not be necessary for the previous lawyer to provide the new lawyer with the file.  At the end of a lawyer's representation, the lawyer is required to return to the client an ORIGINAL documents supplied to that lawyer from the client (unless the client asks the lawyer to keep them), so the client should be able to provide those documents to the new lawyer.   Hopefully, that answers your question.