Can change attorneys before I accept settlement if I feel the attorney didn’t do an effective job and only went to short settle?

Yes you can change attorney at any time. Your prior attorney will have what is known as an attorney lien for the work they performed.

You can always fire an attorney but, he/she will still get paid something for the work he did on a case. Also, no one can make you sign a release but, you should talk to your attorney about all of this.

What they might be referring to is the "under-insured" policy that you likely carried on your car. We typically will go after our client's under-insured policy after we have received the policy limits from the at-fault person's insurance. Back to your original question, you can change attorneys if you want. The problem is, though, that the attorney who secured the settlement likely has a "lien" for their attorney fee that attached to the offer at the point that it came in. If you are thinking of changing attorneys, it's always best to do it early before they have done much work on the case or before an offer comes in.

Yes, you change attorney if your not happy. Look at your retainer agreement to see if you will owe your current attorney any money. It might not be worth changing.

It's hard to say without knowing all if the facts. An attorney would have to know a lot of information.

You can change attorneys at any time, but you should be aware that the settlements are usually based on the amount of insurance the responsible/negligent party has. Then the attorneys' fees, costs and medical liens are deducted from the total amount of the settlement. If you discharge your attorney at this point, he will still have a lien for the time he spent and the costs of litigation which he incurred. That will come out of any settlement you achieve in the future with a new attorney. For example, if you are in an accident which is the fault of someone else and you lose a leg, clearly this is worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, if the negligent driver only has $50,000 in insurance and no assets you can attach, (i.e. no available bank accounts or property other than his home) you can obtain a huge judgment against him but he will have only $50,000 to pay for your injury and medical costs. If there are final agreement papers in front of you, that would indicate to me that at some point you agreed to the amount of the settlement. If you did, the defendant's attorneys could file a motion in court to enforce the settlement at that amount. Your dispute is with your attorney and if you feel he or she misrepresented to you, then you have to file a complaint against him. Sounds like for some reason you believed that the entire $60,000 was going to go to you and that the attorney fees and costs were not going to be deducted from that. First thing I would do is review the retainer agreement you signed and it usually spells out exactly what will be deducted from a final settlement. If you signed the retainer agreement, you will be held to understand it. However, a case cannot be settled without your permission. If you didn't agree to it, your recourse is with your attorney.

In California, you can always change lawyers. However, your current lawyer is generally entitled to a lien against any settlement or recovery you obtain for the reasonable value of his services rendered. As to the "value" of your case, there are many factors which go into a settlement and who pays and why. You should discuss the entire situation with an attorney and see if there is a reason for your insurance contributing to the settlement. It sounds like the person who hit you had a 60,000 maximum insurance policy and you had UM insurance which will kick in money as well.

Yes, you can terminate representation at any time. However, this does not mean you'll be able to avoid paying the previous attorney who worked the case for you up to potential settlement. If you signed a retainer agreement with the attorney, then it is likely that there is a clause in the agreement that authorizes the attorney to place a lien on any potential settlement or jury verdict that you may ultimately receive.Re-read your retainer and look for this clause. However, even if this clause isn't in there the attorney can likely recover the reasonable value for the work that he did.Also, you should sit down with your attorney and discuss the settlement amount and why you are not happy with it. It is your lawsuit and as the client only you can settle the case, not the attorney.

You can hire another attorney, but that attorney is going to have to share their fee with your current attorney. If your current attorney has a written offer, then he might be entitled to his percentage amount based on the current offer. What you might be better off doing is having a sit down with your current attorney and have him explain why he thinks you should take this offer. It sounds like the person that is at fault for the crash does not have much insurance and neither do you. This happens, and unless the person that hit you has a lot of money, you should listen to your attorney.

You may discharge your attorney, however, you will be liable to pay for his time spent on the case. You can reject the settlement offer.

If the draft and releases have not been signed you are free to fire your atty. and get another one. If you agreed to settle and the papers have been signed it is probably too late. If you get a new attorney ask him to explain the situation carefully so that you might understand it. I suspect there are many things you do not understand at this point. A lawyer would not give up value on a claim if there were no reason to do so.

You can change attorneys, however I would recommend that you counsel with your present attorney to determine why there were changes in their opinion over the prosecution of the case first. Then you could seek a second opinion if you desired.

The overriding rule of attorney-client relationships is that you as the client have the supreme power to choose who represents you. So yes, you should be able to change attorneys at nearly any point in the proceedings. Depending on the type of contingency contract you signed, however, you will probably owe your current attorney for the work he or she has already put in.

Yes, you may fire your attorney However, they may be entitled to compensation under your existing retainer agreement, so you should read it carefully.