Obligation to Pay Attorney Fees
My question involves a marriage in the state of: NC
I filed a case for post separation support and the attorney who took my case asked me to sign the contract papers with 1000 dollar as retainer. He told me that I don't have to pay anything unless the judge awards the attorney fees. The case was unusually dragged and he virtually did nothing to help and in fact when I asked him to withdraw, he was not willing to give up my case. He took undue advantage of my lack of knowledge about several things and did everything to harass me. I withdraw from the case and filed for divorce in my native country. He has taken the U turn now and asking for an obscene amount as attorneys fees. I am not a US citizen, unemployed, supported by falimy and have student debts to pay. Can he claim this fees? I want to have a future in his country but he is exploiting me and I know he has colluded with my husband. I have the email proofs where he is telling me not to worry about the payments and that he will not charge me anything if I am not awarded attorneys fees. will this help? How the proceedings will take place if I don't pay his fees. To be really true, I don't want to pay this attorney a single dime even if I have a million dollar because he never represented me fairly and never addressed the strong points of my case in the court here and on many occasions took the secure leave to drag the case and harassed me on several occasions.
Re: Obligation to Pay Attorney Fees
welcome to america! Land of "you dont have to pay attnys if you dont want to" -- really though, I dont (or doctors either who don't help me) & never had an issue
Re: Obligation to Pay Attorney Fees
I have no idea what you mean, "he was not willing to give up my case". If you fired him, you fired him. If you let him appear in court for you, you didn't fire him.
If you don't pay your legal fees he can sue you. If he sues you, you can use whatever contracts and/or documentation you have to try to establish that you only owe him the $1,000 and not the greater amount he is claiming. If you believe he committed legal malpractice, consult a malpractice lawyer about your situation.
Re: Obligation to Pay Attorney Fees
When I say he was not willing to give up my case I mean the following
I went and talked to another attorney in between and asked this attorney to withdraw from the case but he didn't. The new attorney gave me the idea of attending the upcoming court date with both of them. I was told by their assistant that both of them are actually good friends. Later, my attorney sent me an email asking me to stay with him and that he won't charge anything unless judge awards attorneys fee.
The legal restrictions to work, a masters degree to complete with the requirement of full time enrollment and not being financially independent will perhaps help you in understanding the enormous stress I was going through. I was not even having the transportation to go and meet different attorneys in the area. I always had the impression that in US everything is fair but I got a different experience that has ruined my life. I don't understand the people like him, he knew that I have nothing but still took my case to cheat me why?