How to Fire a Divorce Attorney

Books and gavel

You are in the middle of your divorce, and you feel the attorney you hired is not doing the job you hired him to do. He does not return your calls, and your spouse seems to always win any hearings. Maybe he shows up late to your court hearings. Sometimes, you just do not get along with him—or you ask for certain relief, and he always tells you that what you are asking for is impossible. What do you do? You just shelled out a few thousand dollars for this attorney and he—in your opinion—is not doing his job. Read on to learn how to fire a divorce attorney.

Instructions

1. Document the reasons you are not happy with your attorney’s services. Document each incident as it occurs. Part of the documentation should be the date and time of the occurrence.

2. Contact your attorney in writing. Send this letter certified. In your letter, outline the reasons why you are not happy with his services. Use the documentation you created. Let him know that if things do not improve, you will be “taking appropriate action.” Give your attorney a week or two to explain himself and to rectify the situation. Make sure you keep a copy of this letter.

3. Send your attorney another certified letter. If your attorney does not rectify himself to your satisfaction, send him another certified letter letting him know you are firing him and his firm. Remind him of the first certified letter you wrote regarding his actions or inactions. This time, you will use documentation that you gathered from the time he received the first letter and this letter. Explain to him that his professional demeanor has not increased to your satisfaction.

4. Review your retainer contract. Most attorneys will require an up-front nonrefundable retainer. If this is the case, you will not be entitled to get your money back—but you can always try asking. Depending on the case, some attorneys will collect a two part retainer, the first half being nonrefundable, the second half having been put into his trust account, as he expected your case to be a difficult case. In most cases, the money that was set aside in the trust account is refundable.

5. Contact your state bar association. File a complaint against the attorney. You are only entitled to file a bar complaint if your attorney has violated ethics rules or any other rules set by your state bar association. If your attorney shows up late to court hearings or he or his office has poor communication, you should file a bar complaint. It may not go anywhere with your case, but if an attorney gets numerous complaints regarding an issue such as communication, the bar association will take action.

6. Document, document, document. When you contact the bar association, document who you spoke with, the date and time and the topics of the conversation. Keep this documentation with the documentation you recorded between you and your attorney. You may need this information should the bar association find wrong-doing on the part of the attorney.