Legal Question in Family Law in Indiana
Attorney fees?
At court case my attorney asked me--name removed--verify i had incurred 2287.50 in attorney fees--name removed--his firm. Judge ordered ex--name removed--pay 44% of this total directly--name removed--(MY) attorney for her portion of fees. I have now recieved a letter from my attorney with a new balance of 2X amount he entered as evidence--name removed--the court. Along with new balance a letter from him--name removed--me that (I) am responsible for entire amount and is--name removed--be paid in a lump sum asap. We are now 8 days after the court
date. Am I legally responsible for opposing parties fees--name removed--him (my attorney) with a court order issued by the judge for opposing party responsible for those fees owed. And can he give evidence--name removed--the court as exhibit --name removed--in support of this amount then double amount in billing--name removed--me. Seems this would be illegal and unethical. Please advise
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Attorney fees?
You need to look at your agreement with counsel concerning whether you are responsible for fees. If so, then counsel may look to you to pay fees, regardless of the court order. I think that you can make a good argument with your counsel that the total fees should be limited to what was asked in court. However, the court orders "reasonable attorneys fees", in othe words, what is a reasonable amount for the other side to pay. I do not know whether your attorney submtted all of the hours to court or only what he thought your spouse would be reasonably responsible to pay. Often times, an attorney has to do things in representing a client that the court may not feel would be reasonable, for example, 5 telephone calls a day, every day of the week, would not be reaonable. However, if you called your attorney that often, the attorney is entitled to payment from you.
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