Legal Aid & a £200 bill for an hours consultation

Hi All

I am new to this (aren''t we all? )

I found a solicitors today who offered legal aid,I earn £250 per week before tax so will not qualify for legal aid, fair enough there are people who probably earn less................however I am solvent and just managing to keep food and bills paid whilst caring for two kids without any maintainance as ex out of work for 3 years

I spent an hour and 15 minutes with the solicitor who didn''t really give me any real options, but clarified my situation legally to some degree - ie mediation is probably best for contact issues.

Ex and I have been separated for 4 years, financials all divided, only thing outstanding is getting divorced.

I was given a bill out of thin air for £165 plus vat, not given any indication of how and where the price came from and asked to pay by card immediately..........

I feel mugged, non the wiser and not really sure where to go from here.........and completely helpless and upset............

Any input and advice much appreciated.

thank you in advance

It''s about average for a solicitor,did you pay, were you aware it was going to cost (sounds stupid but some solicitors offer a free consult ate the start) did you sign anything.

Hi Klar

Welcome to wiki & welcome to the world of solicitors & costs!

After 4 years & financials sorted (do you have a Consent Order?) you may be best tring th managed divorce solution on this site, others have said they are very good.

I know what you mean re solicitors to date have spent £2.5k divorce over but still trying to get x to sign the house over so still ongoing.

The solicitor has to give you a data sheet backing up the bills, mine does but the fact that 0.6 minutes of sols time cost £26 means even a one line letter costs at least £26!

X was on legal aid & this only made the situation worse as their side seemed to IMO drag the whole thing out (spent at least £1k chasing x & his sols).

Having said all this .. . It does appear that my sols got me a good consent order & settlement so perhaps worth it in the end.

Try what this site has to offer, & if you decide to go via sols - don''t even spend costly time saying good morning just go to the point of the question & get out of there.

Good luck JJ

Thank you for your response.................I do feel stupid

I rang them and they arranged an appointment, said to bring documents to see if I was eligible, sat down had a chat for half hour 40 minutes, then went through the legal aid calculator and they said I wasn''t eligible.

I would have to pay their fee, when I asked they said it would be £165, I said does that include vat and they said no.

I asked if I got my half hour consultation, which is usual in this game and they said yes, my appointment was for an hour and 15 minutes total....

I was shocked and paid on the spot with my card as felt really unsure what to say............

feel my divorce is pretty straightforward, they quoted me £1500 plus vat to sort that for me, I said I would think about it............I feel mugged as not actually any clearer on best way to proceed.

She actually said that my husbands solicitors should have also sent me a separation/judicial Petition, when I checked with my ex''s solicitors, they said it would follow once he has completed and I will get a copy......so I get the feeling this company I saw today, was just trying to make it look complicated to justify the fees..........

Hi Klar
Welcome to wiki, but sorry you find yourself here.
I think around 200/hour is about the going rate for solicitors.
But now you have found this site please feel free to post questions as you need. Although the site can''t provide legal advice as such, there are knowledgable wikipeeps who will happily share their experiance for nothing.

LB

Thank you for the background and advice.

I am not sure what a consent order is: we just agreed at the time to split the house, agreed access and maintenance and that worked well for a while until my ex started to lose jobs like I do keys!! Regularly.

I will have a good look around here and see what i can find out.

I hope you get your''s sorted out too, the main thing is we are doing it and moving forward regardless of the speed.

best wishes

Hi and thanks for the warm welcome,

I am in the wrong job me thinks
I will have a look around and see what research I can do on here, it looks a great site.

Thanks again