Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia
Attorney Ethics
My fiance' and I are using an attorney (one we have used before) for a pre-nuptial agreement to prevent my soon to be husband from being adversely affected by some bad debt I incurred prior to the marriage, totally unrelated to him.
We have received a bill, not for the actual document requested, but for several hours of research the attorney took it upon himself to do without our consent; research I might add, which was of a personal nature to me and NOT relevant to ANY aspect of the agreement we asked for. I am transsexual, that is... born male, and having had surgery many years ago, I am fully, functionally and legally (in our state) female. I possess a female birth certificate and can legally marry a man. This attorney was never told my gender status (by either of us) and could only have heard it third hand through his wife, who worked with my fiance'. His research was relevant to same-sex marriage and transsexualism based entirely on the fact that he did not know whether I was classified as male or female. Not only was he not asked to do said research, he didn't bother to ask us anything about my gender before embarking on bogus research. Had he asked, I could have set him ''straight'' in less than a minute. Is this ethical?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Attorney Ethics
Yes, it sounds as if you've apparently hit upon the appropriate term for the exercise which the attorney undertook without your bidding or approval, i.e., "bogus research".
And, furthermore, a prenuptial agreement would be of little value in
protecting your fiance "from being adversely affcted by some bad debt (you) incurred prior to your pending marriage", since this instrument normally is intended for legal purposes other than to shield a spouse from the adverse consequences of the other spouse's poor credit history incurred prior to the marriage. Your husband's credit is likely to be little affected by such history on your part, prenup or not, unless he were to make a joint application with you for credit.
You certainly are within your rights to question the bill which has been presented and to make your decisions on it as appropriate.
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