Legal Question in Legal Malpractice in Florida

I hired an attorney to file a civil contempt motion to enforce visitation. I provided the attorney with my marital settlement agreement which provided for the award of reasonable attorney fees for the prevailing party if either party had to bring an issue into a court of competent jurisdiction for enforcement. I was the prevailing party and the judge found my ex to be in contempt of court. The judge asked my attorney to prepare the final order and submit it to the court. My hearing was on Feb 18 2005, The final order was not even drafted until April 14th 2005 and then my case had been closed for inactivity so even though he sent the order into the judge in April, the court did not entertain it as a "re-open" fee had to be paid first. The re-open fee was paid in June of 2005 and a final order was issued and signed by the judge in July of 2005. During the Feb hearing the judge said that I was entitled to attorney fees and told my attorney to set a hearing for fees. A hearing was not set until Feb 9 2006. I continued to receive monthly bills throughout this time. In August of 2005, I sent my attorney a certified return receipt requested letter stating that he had three business days to present me with an aggressive plan his office was committed to making on my behalf AT NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE TO ME. (I had already paid over 7,000 dollars. My attorney called me within the 3 days and told me he would get a hearing set and that he would personally contact the judge. He continued to do work for me and I did not pay him anything per my letter from August of 2005. In January of 2006, my attorney writes a letter saying that he can't work for free and that the letter dated August 31st was not a new contract between us. I told him that I disagreed. He stated that he was going to file a motion to withdraw, and I answered him in writing that I would oppose/object to his motion to withdraw, stating that he needed to complete what he has started and agree to do so without me incurring additional fees. In February of 2006, we finally got a hearing on attorney fees.( I still had not paid any additional monies since August of 2005) I did not prevail as opposing council presented case law stating that I waived my right to attorney fees because they were not specifically prayed for in the original motion. What is the "Standard of Care" for praying for attorney fees, when I showed him the copy of the marital settlement agreement stating that I would be entitled to fees if we prevailed? Was my attorney negligent? Do I have a malpractice claim? His absence of timely practice caused me to lose the opportunity to have the court intervene while my daughter was still a minor. She turned 18 in June of 2006. Since there were no sanctions or consequences for my ex, he continued to block visitation. I had no court document to show to enforce the court order until July of 2005.

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