Is this legal malpractice?
My divorce lawyer lost my case, I wasn’t happy with the judgement so I consulted another family law attorney for an evaluation of my case with my divorce lawyer. When she called me back she told me my lawyer’s strategy was very poor and he made alot of stupid decisions in my case, for example…we live in an equitable distribution state, he told me to split assets 50/50, he didnt do enough investigations in my case, he let my ex violate several court orders which included he wasnt suppose to take assets out of the house, the ex signed my name to tax returns to get the savings on a joint return (he would of owed if he filed separately). I was told by another attorney, my divorce attorney should of filed a lawsuit against my ex to get back my half but my divorce lawyer agreed with the ex’s attorney that he should keep the tax money because he claimed (without proof) that he was using it to pay household expenses…I’m looking for a legal malpractice attorney to sue my lawyer because I feel he messed up my divorce case?
Answer to Divot questions….If he would of asked me to pay for a PI, I would of but he never told me I needed any expert witnesses for my case. He told me I could of had expert witnesses for my case right before we walked into trial and told me it would of cost me too much money. He made that decision all by himself without consulting me beforehand(this case was ongoing for 2 years before trial). He told me to let the opposing attorney to do all the work and let my ex pay for it. I wanted to file for divorce first, he told me no…the judge would think I have a b/f. He told me the longer the opposing lawyer dragged the case on, the more money I would make (which I found out later after trial, the more money he would make…the liar). He told me I had to be fair to my husband but my husband didn’t want to be fair to me…my husband didnt want to give me anything…I was a stay at home mom for 20 years…my husband was committing adultery and wanted to throw me out of the house.
I already paid him over ,000 which I had to borrow.
Tagged with: assets • committing adultery • divorce attorney • divorce case • divorce lawyer • equitable distribution • expert witnesses • family law attorney • household expenses • investigations • judgement • legal malpractice attorney • liar • pi • proof • stay at home • stay at home mom • stupid decisions • tax money • tax returns
Filed under: Legal Malpractice
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
sounds like he was lazy and just trying to get as much money out of you as possible. u should have hired a good female lawyer who would fought tooth and nail for you
It is not enough for a malpractice. No one is ever happy in a divorce. If you feel very strongly about it, you may call the State Bar Association of your State and file a complaint against him, which will be investigated.
They can also force him to make restitution to you and they also keep a fund of their own, paid for by the lawyers of that state. That is, if they find he indeed screwed up.
Looks like you may have enough not to be considered frivolous, but it is close. Bar investigates things that may not even rise to the level of malpractice. Besides, this will not cost you anything. A malpractice lawyer, if they take the case, would start at $10,000.
Not many lawyers handle cases in legal malpractice, so you need to find one who does that and have your case evaluated. The burden of proof is generally 1) but for the legal malpractice you would have won the underlying case, and 2) that you suffered significant actual damages as a direct result. Good luck!
Did you give your first attorney unlimited funds so that he or she could do unlimited work? How much did you pay to that attorney? Do you still owe them money? Did you agree and pay for the attorney to hire a PI to do "enough investigations?" (Attorneys are generally not licensed private investigators.) Your description leaves many questions unanswered.
Most legal work involves a burdens-versus-benefits analysis. Before you decide your first attorney acted unethically, you may want to get a realistic estimate of how much all of the work you mention would have cost you, and decide whether you could have afforded it.