My divorce settlement agreement, which was drafted by my attorney, states that my ex-husband is required to pay All of my legal fees ($5,100) and filing expenses ($255). My attorney assured me that once my ex paid the bill in full, I would be refunded the $2,800 I had already paid in retainer and filing fees. My husband agreed to the settlement, and he paid the bill the day we signed the final papers. That was over 5 months ago, and I still have not received a refund from my attorney. After being avoided for months, I was essentially told that my final bill exceeded the amount that my ex-husband paid, and she would be keeping half of my expected refund to cover the difference. I was upset, as I thought the matter had been settled months before. The wording of the settlement agreement made it sound as though the entire bill had been calculated. How else could my ex have been expected to pay ALL my fees at that time?
I asked to be mailed a copy of the final bill to view the new charges. Oddly enough, the back page of the “final” bill stated that it was not, in fact, a final bill and was subject to change, and the “new” charges weren’t new at all. They were charges for phone calls, faxes, etc…from the beginning-middle of my case that hadn’t appeared on any of my previous billing statements. Basically, she remembered $1,500 worth of work that she did nearly a year ago, and now I have to pay for it because she didn’t bother billing my husband for it when she had the chance! She knew from the start that I had to borrow money to pay those initial fees, and I never would have agreed to settle if I didn’t believe I would get that money back. What’s more, the half of my money that she has agreed to return, she will be sending in installments over the next six weeks instead of in one lump sum. Because I still haven’t received a FINAL bill, I’m afraid that she will continue to remember services she forgot to charge for, and she will stop the installments. I feel like something very shady is going on here. How can I get my money back?
I asked to be mailed a copy of the final bill to view the new charges. Oddly enough, the back page of the “final” bill stated that it was not, in fact, a final bill and was subject to change, and the “new” charges weren’t new at all. They were charges for phone calls, faxes, etc…from the beginning-middle of my case that hadn’t appeared on any of my previous billing statements. Basically, she remembered $1,500 worth of work that she did nearly a year ago, and now I have to pay for it because she didn’t bother billing my husband for it when she had the chance! She knew from the start that I had to borrow money to pay those initial fees, and I never would have agreed to settle if I didn’t believe I would get that money back. What’s more, the half of my money that she has agreed to return, she will be sending in installments over the next six weeks instead of in one lump sum. Because I still haven’t received a FINAL bill, I’m afraid that she will continue to remember services she forgot to charge for, and she will stop the installments. I feel like something very shady is going on here. How can I get my money back?
