Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
I am working on getting a divorce. My attorney told me, if it was uncontested, no property, and a son that is 18 years old, it was going to run me $800. Pretty reasonable, right? Well, it has now gone from $800 to $2133. and each time the balance changes. There is no conflict between my husband and I and the child support has already been established. My husband has signed his portion of the divorce and I, mine. No disagreements, no conflict, pretty simple. Right? Tell me, what can I do about this? It would be different had he of told me upfront what it could run me. If I had known that I would of kept looking for maybe someone else whom would of been within my price range . I have expired my entire savings and I am still not divorced. What are his committments to me and can he refuse to divorce me if I do not have the money to continue paying him, since his figure keeps changing? I know this is ackward, since you are an attorney too. Maybe you can put yourself outside of that box and into mine. Thank you for your time.
2 Answers from Attorneys
May I assume that your contract with this laywer was in writing? You'll want to take a good close look at the contract.
Here's what you should do: Write him a letter (paper letter - no phone calls or emails) and tell him what you told me. Ask him to give you a date and time when you can come to his office and discuss this. Tell him that you'd like a response within seven days.
And remember: You are not married to your lawyer. You can fire him just like you'd fire a plumber.
And yes, he can drag his feet if he thinks you owe him more money.
An attorney charges for his or her time and advice.
Ask for an ITEMIZED STATEMENT.
If you or your spouse called or emailed him then that is probably why the bill increased. Most people have no idea how much time they eat up on just calling or emailing with a "few simple questions".
I have found after practicing almost 20 years that most people run up their own bill then don't want to pay for it.
I quote a price for a simple divorce - under $1,000 - but that is with no "extras" - no calls or emails - then the client (or their spouse) calls me with questions or they make "simple" changes to the final decree. And it runs up the bill so that the "simple" divorce goes from taking 4 hours to taking 10 hours!
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