Is my solicitor an a***e?

I can sympathise greatly with you. my divorce has been ongoing for 5 months now. it's cost me 2k so far and we are still just bouncing letters backards and forwards. nothing has been agreed, settled or completed. my s2bx's sol encouraged him to contest my petition, so it's got to the point where i have had to dismiss my petition to then sign his. both are for unreasonable behaviour. i am having to pay the mortgage, bills etc myself as he stopped payin his half without tellin me in March. i've got 3 kids to provide for. i've told my sol that i can't pay him any more until everything's completed and the extra money that i've borrowed on the house to buy him out becomes available. dunno what else to do.

These situations of procrastination at a time when separating parties are emotional AND vulnerable are apparently very common place and often disbelieved. After 8 years of sols accommodating my xtbs refusal to meet and disclose assets, his first sol found guilty of hiding assets....yes the Court and Appeal held this finding but this took 3 years for his lyin sol to prepare....not hearsay, another sol repeatedly not prepared, one of mine not turning up AND turning up on the wrong day for another Final hearing, etc....can a party litigant really do worse?????

hadenoughnow,

Further to the posts above just two other points to bear in mind. Under the solicitors' code of conduct, a solicitor can cease acting for a client when there is a breakdown in confidence between them and the client. However, clients are free not to accept advice and that is not alone enough to drop a you. If a client has clearly lost faith and continually acts in a way that is contrary to what a solicitor believes is in the best interests then they could decline to act any more.

Involving you in unreasonable delays and not doing what you instruct them to do are grounds for complaint. Solicitors should have a complaints system and if you wish to complain you may write to or speak to a designated person within the firm. They should respond within 28 days and then if you are still not happy you can contact the Legal Complaints Service.

www.legalcomplaints.org.uk

Thanks Fiona,

I would like to complain .. but would prefer to wait until all this is over. Tbh it is very difficult to concentrate on work and the kids at the moment with all this going on - and he is just making it worse. My original sol at the firm was someone I knew, who was aware of my situation and who understood that I am an intelligent women who does not need to be patronised. Unfortunately he handed over to this "specialist" when things looked like getting a bit more complicated ... A couple of weeks ago when my sol was away the original guy did a bit of work on the case - simple and effective - 2 line email exchanges and job sorted.

As I said I have already got a reduction in fees - because I was not happy with the costs associated with the handover of my case ... although they were funny about the fact I did not accept the reduction offer with alacrity because I wanted to think it over first.

It seems to me that if my sol wants to behave like a rottweiler that's fine - but he should be doing to to the other side and not to me!

Ho hum!

Hadenoughnow

Hi

mine sols are just the same...I went to see them and she said that taking all the figures into account i would only have to give him about £5k max..when it went to court a couple of days later the figure he was asking for was nearly £40k..I said to my sols why was there such a difference and she replied " i was having a bad day and got my figures wrong...!!!
I have had to have a loan to pay my fees, even though I only work 25 hours..My bill was £2200.00..that was before we spent 6 hours in court , which was a waste of time as my sols hardly uttered a word..So god knows how much that cost...Mines going to the final hearing too...I just dread the bills. they dont seem to have done anything for there money..
How is your divorce going ??

If I were you I would write a letter to your solicitor and outline what you are not happy about and say that you will make a formal complaint if the issues are not addressed. Also can you not change solicitors to one you get one with more in the same firm?.