Legal Question in Legal Malpractice in Florida
Legal malpractice vs divorce settlement agreement
During mediation my Sarasota attorney advised that I should accept permanent alimony terms, answering my concerns about uncertainty of securing a high paid job with the statement 'you can always modify'. Six months after dissolution I lost my 6 digit salary, and 18 months later I'm still looking of a job. Meantime, my modification to modify has been denied, one of the arguments brought by my ex's attorney is that there were 'foreseen' circumstances. Leaving aside the nonsense of such argument in corporate America where there is no job security, if the court accepts such nosense argument, I'm thinking that my lawyer was negligent in his assessment and completely failed to protect my interests luring me into a settlement agreement that has been confirmed to be the worst legal alternative for me. Since all her assumptions have been proven wrong within a short time frame and objective facts - loss of income, order to deny my modification of alimony based on 'foreseen' arguments, I believe there are sufficient elements for a legal malpractice case. I'll appreciate your feedback on this issue.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Legal malpractice vs divorce settlement agreement
It is extremely unlikely that you have the ability to bring a valid claim for legal malpractice. Although proven wrong, from the facts as described, there is mot sufficient information to conclude that the advice you received was not reasonable. The test is not -- in hindsight -- how it turned out, but whether the advice was reasonable given what was known and reasonably forseable at the time. Judges are not always easy to predict. You face the further proof problem of being unable to prove that you would have been any better off in refusing to accept the permanent alimony terms offerred. If you had said "no," how do you prove that either more would have been awarded or that you would have received (and accepted) temporary alimony at a higher rate?
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