Legal Question in Family Law in Washington
My divorce has been going on for two years, It cost me over 4000. to my lawyers in which I ran out of money and no longer have a lawyer. I have finally got her to talk with her lawyer and get all the necessary papers signed and notarized (by her and I) now her lawyer refuses to file them with the courts until she pays her bill. I know that she will drag this out for as long as she can. Is this a legal thing that lawyers can do and if so is there something I can do to get this over with? I would like to move on with my life and cannot with this game that is being played.
Thank you M.
1 Answer from Attorneys
A lot depends on what's in the contract between your wife and her lawyer that will dictate how easily your wife can get her papers.
For your purposes though, what you can do in the interim is file a motion to present agreed final orders, which you indicate opposing counsel has in their possession and refuses to do anything with until paid by your wife. Explain to the Court that you are entitled to a copy of the documents, that opposing counsel has not given you a set either, and that if you had the docs, you and your wife would present them yourselves.
In your motion for presentation, you should also indicate that while you understand that there is a problem between your wife and her attorney, that's not your problem, and since you have signed all the necessary documents, all you ask is that they now be presented to the Court.
That will put pressure on the attorney to explain why they are refusing to present the papers themselves, and at the same time, you are forcing them to appear to explain the situation. If that does not get you anywhere, re-post here with an update on what happened and someone here will try to answer with your next steps.