QUESTION
If you fire your lawyer can you get the money paid to them returned?
Asked on Dec 18th, 2018 on Divorce - Tennessee
More details to this question:
I hired a lawyer for a divorce with a child involved and informed the lawyer it would be contested by my spouse. That was in March and it is now December. I went to court today to be told my spouse hired an attorney at the last minute so it had to be postponed. I have never heard of a divorce taking anywhere near this long. We agreed on a price and I paid him half and he agreed I could pay the remaining half when the divorce was final. Now he wants more money even after he has done nothing. He did nothing at all for months. The first correspondence I received was a picture of a letter to set the court date which was dated November 26 which was right after I told him I felt like he wasn’t doing anything on my case which clearly he had not. What should I do?
1 ANSWER
It sounds like your attorney met with you, drafted divorce papers, filed and served those papers, and has now spoken with your spouse’s attorney, and spoken again with you. That is not “nothing.” I would estimate a contested divorce involving a child could easily take 18 months to two years.
I know it’s frustrating, but things change when a party hires a lawyer that didn’t have one before. It’s almost like a whole new case. None of that sounds like your lawyer’s fault.
As far as refund, your lawyer would be (possibly) required to return only unearned fees. For example, if you gave him $1500, and his rate is $250, and a divorce with child costs roughly $400 to file and serve, once he’s spent 4.4 hours, your fee is spent, and you would be owed no refund.
The National average cost for a contested divorce is $15-20k. If you’ve spent some fraction of that, it’s likely not your lawyer’s fault if you have to spend more. Cost is a main reason people settle their differences.
Answered on Dec 21st, 2018 at 7:25 AM