Morning Folk
I am looking for advice. Me and the ex split up last October and I had contact with my son who is 5 from Friday evening till Sunday. I met my new partner 6 week ago and the ex as gone mental. At the beginning she said I could only see our son if it was on the park for an hour and with her present. I went along with this for a few days but she got out of hand, she tried hitting on me everytime and messaging my current girlfriend that I wanted her. Anyway, I went to a solicitor who as written to the ex but she as not acknowledged it. I have the Miam form now to give to court for a court order. Her 14 days is up on Monday to make contact , it's not looking lightly at all. I have read some posts on here where solicitors bills have been extortionate. I can't afford costs like that.
I believe there's cooling off period with my solicitor. I agreed to a fixed fee of £1200, now realise the court order is another £215 then another £270 for solicitor being at court. My query is, can I legally pull out of the agreement with my solicitor and as anyone successfully representEd themselves in court?
My head is all over the place. Any advice would be good 🙂
Cheers
Hi,
I am pretty sure you can pull out of using a solicitor as its fundamentally you employing them, but im not 100% sure.
What i am 100% sure about is representing yourself as thats all i have done now for 2.5 years. You fill out your C-100 form, file it with your £215 and your directions hearing will arrive in 6 weeks or so. There were a couple of times i did wish i had a bit more legal advice, especially when i agreed to go into a contact centre, i only agreed just through pure panic as i wanted contact asap but with better advice i may not have ever even have to have gone there etc. So yes i have successfully represented myself in court as many other men have done, apparently court judges are now being trained in dealing with self representation. If i had of kept my mouth shut and played ball my entire case would have been dealt with in 7 months so dont let the 2.5 years of me battling in court put you off as i am to blame for a lot of that.
I do wish you all the best
🙂
Hi and welcome
you just need to tell your solicitor you no longer require their services. It's not difficult to self rep at all, many of our dads do exactly that with great success. Have a good read through the stickies at the top of the Legal Eagle section and we can answer most questions and support you through the process.
You could also consider attending a Families Need Fathers group in your area where you can get free guidance and support.
Thank you very much for your replies.
When I met my solicitor I agreed on a fixed fee arrangement of £1500 to be paid at £400 pm. Then I found out about representingredients myself. I wonder if I would still have to pay the fixed fee of £1500. He as sent a letter to my ex, not other work as been done, he is on holiday but back Monday. I have a feeling I will be liable to pay it. If this is the case I may as well have my monies worth out of him.
I will look this up thanks 🙂
If you have signed a contract with the solicitor then get this looked at by the CAB or similar to see if you would be liable. If to date only one letter has been written, common sense would say that you could terminate and not owe anything but the legality can be a different matter!
If the worst comes to worst, you could use him up to the first hearing and then go it alone after.
Hi
I seriously think you have no obligation to pay, if you dont want to continue using a solicitor then dont, cut your losses and walk away. The above replies from Yoda and co are very sensible and decent but id just walk from your solicitor because what can he actually do??
Fill your C-100 out, take the case to court yourself and as long as there are no reasons for the court to stop you seeing your child then BOOM, courts are on your side mate.
Paul
Well after some thought I have decided to get shut of solicitor and go it alone, self representation with a little help from my other half. I am gonna contact solicitor on weds (when he is back off his holiday) see where I stand where the fixed fee arrangement is and apply for court order on Friday. Feel a little better now I have made the decision.
Thanks a lot for all your input 🙂
Good luck - feel free to ask for advice on here is you're stuck or just to let off steam.
Hi there
When you're filling in the C100 application form make sure, where it asks what you are requesting the court to do, that you ask for an interim order to be put in place at the first hearing. Explain that you've had regular full weekend contact until 6 weeks ago when it was stopped and state that you are very concerned that this sudden break will be having a detrimental effect on your son with whom you have a very close bond.
Best of luck