Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Illinois

Divorce files

I have a sister who had a

divorce attorney who withdrew from her divorce

case. She owes him $1425.00

and has sent him a small payment toward his bill. The attorney will not cash her check and will not release her file to her new attorney

my sister does not have the money to pay him the full amiount due. Her new attorney wants her to pay the old attrorney in order to get the file. She has a court date in 2 weeks set by the judge from

the last time she was in court with her new attorney. How can she get her files back from the attorney who withdrew in order to move foward with her divorce and get it over with


Asked on 5/19/07, 2:09 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Noelle Ansley Noelle Ansley

Re: Divorce files

He can't hold her file like that. She needs to tell him to lien it if he needs to but that he needs to get it to her new attorney. In fact, here's what I suggest she do: tell her to call the old lawyer's office and make an appointment under a fake name (if they ask who referred her, she should say she's a friend of her true self) and that she's got an emergency hearing, can she come in the next day? Then she should show up at the appointment, go in to see the lawyer, and demand her file back. He cannot withhold it for fees.

If he continues to play these games, tell her to report him to the ARDC.

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Answered on 5/19/07, 6:38 pm


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