What is the name of your state? California
My ex and I jointly hired a family law specialist to formally draft our MSA. We each put in $1,000 to set up the retainer. Each month the firm sent out invoices to each of us for services rendered requesting some amount to be paid to replenish the retainer which I dutifully paid each month. We finished using this attorney in July and I recently received a check for the unused portion of the trust.
About a week after I received the check my ex contacted me because the firm informed him that only one check was issued and he demanded that I pay him half. I called the firm myself to see if he had been issued his own refund check and was told he was not. Reason: although the firm was billing us each separately I was the only one who replenished the retainer each month.
Question 1: Although each invoice was only addressed to me (with a separate invoice going to my ex) it turns out the "balance due now" was for the full amount, not my half of the attorney's fee. Is this standard practice when two parties are splitting attorney's fees or would this be considered double billing?
Question 2: What rights do I have in recovering my overpayment with the attorney? I have written a letter to the attorney explaining that because of her billing practice I feel my interests were not protected in this matter. She knew the 50/50 arrangement going into the process yet she willingly took my payment in full without informing me at any time that my ex was not remitting any payment month after month. In my letter I asked the attorney to refund my overpayment and seek to recover unpaid legal fees with my ex. Her response so far has been to write an email to my ex informing him that he, in fact, owes me this money and is not entitled to any portion of the refund I received. Isn't it her obligation to uphold the agreement? Why is this now my problem to chase my ex for money I know I'll never see from him? That was the purpose of hiring a mediator in the first place.
My ex and I jointly hired a family law specialist to formally draft our MSA. We each put in $1,000 to set up the retainer. Each month the firm sent out invoices to each of us for services rendered requesting some amount to be paid to replenish the retainer which I dutifully paid each month. We finished using this attorney in July and I recently received a check for the unused portion of the trust.
About a week after I received the check my ex contacted me because the firm informed him that only one check was issued and he demanded that I pay him half. I called the firm myself to see if he had been issued his own refund check and was told he was not. Reason: although the firm was billing us each separately I was the only one who replenished the retainer each month.
Question 1: Although each invoice was only addressed to me (with a separate invoice going to my ex) it turns out the "balance due now" was for the full amount, not my half of the attorney's fee. Is this standard practice when two parties are splitting attorney's fees or would this be considered double billing?
Question 2: What rights do I have in recovering my overpayment with the attorney? I have written a letter to the attorney explaining that because of her billing practice I feel my interests were not protected in this matter. She knew the 50/50 arrangement going into the process yet she willingly took my payment in full without informing me at any time that my ex was not remitting any payment month after month. In my letter I asked the attorney to refund my overpayment and seek to recover unpaid legal fees with my ex. Her response so far has been to write an email to my ex informing him that he, in fact, owes me this money and is not entitled to any portion of the refund I received. Isn't it her obligation to uphold the agreement? Why is this now my problem to chase my ex for money I know I'll never see from him? That was the purpose of hiring a mediator in the first place.
