Is it normal for a custody case where the father is mentally ill and the mother is fully capable of full custody, to

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Customer: Hi! Is it normal for a custody case where the father is mentally ill and the mother is fully capable of full custody, to cost between 25 and 50,000 (not including pro bono work)? (Quebec)The Child Protective services have already declared the father to be an endangerment to the children.After already paying 10, 000 for my motion and Answering to the father's motion. It's been about 1 month of representation thua far. My lawyer is offering me a ''deal'' for 25,000$ that I need to pay upfront and another 15,000$ if it goes to trial. I've been granted full custody for the emergency measures, and he has supervised access. He is seeking shared custody.He has a pending criminal case for various charges of domestic violence. He has been arrested and released on conditions to not be in contact with me, not even concerning access to the children.I am concerned with the amount that is being requested for me to pay. She has charged me $2000 for court dates in advance whether there is an appearance or not. This does not seem normal to me and I'm looking for guidance if I must change lawyers or not.Thanks

Answered by Debra in 1 hour 2 years ago

Debra

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Debra

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Debra, Expert

Hello and Welcome to JustAnswer. My name is***** will be working on your question today and I am looking forward to our conversation.

Debra, Expert

Please note that the experts don’t text so there may be a bit of a delay. If you don’t answer back for a while I may not be online when you do but I will never desert you and will check back often. As well, as I am working from home it is possible that I will be interrupted but I will always return back as soon as I can.

I am sorry to hear of this difficult situation.

Before I answer, can you clarify, so when she asked for the $2000 per court date and then there is no court date, she keeps some money in her trust account but she doesn't say that it's gone and used up correct?

Customer

She said that either way she needs to go to the court to deposit the file so court or no court the coat is still 2000$. It was settled between lawyers, so I paid 2000$ plus the emails and time spent between lawyers

Customer

No, I will not be getting that money back

Debra, Expert

That is outrageous. You need to dismiss this lawyer at once and you need to find a proper lawyer who bills fairly and ethically and lawfully.

What you can do to find a lawyer is one of the following things.

You can review the law society's suggestions on how to find a lawyer. Depending on where you live you may be able to consult with a lawyer for $25 for the first half hour:

https://www.barreau.qc.ca/en/find-lawyer/

Or you can check on a site called lexpert. This is a legal directory of leading lawyers and law firms throughout Canada and is well-respected by the legal community.

Here's the link to their website:

http://www.lexpert.ca/directory/find-lawyers-or-law-firms/

Does that help as a starting point?

Customer

Thank you. I am sad to gain this news that the person I'd entrusted with my case has been deceitful. I'd asked that the father pay my lawyer's fees and court costs. The lawyer told me that is not a possible request, but she can request a provision for the future. So she tequest 15,000$ be paid by him (he has over a million dollars, I am stay at home mom). She requested that I pay her 25,000$ by next week. Then once the judge grants the 15,000$ it would be placed to her in trust. And she would create bills moving forward to repay me the money. Is this truly how this works or did she lie to me about requesting he pay my court and lawyer fees?

Debra, Expert

I've never heard of it being done like that and if she thinks she can get the $15,000 there is no reason at all to require you to pay a retainer first.

The who point is you cannot afford it because you don't have any income.

Customer

Understood. So, is it acurate that one cannot request to have their lawyer/court fees paid by the other party (in this case have the applicant pay)? One can only request for provisions?

Debra, Expert

No you can seek an order for them to pay the legal fees but you wouldn't pay that to the lawyer on top of a full retainer. The lawyer would take that instead of the retainer.

Debra, Expert

Thank you for trusting us to help you here at JustAnswer. I am marking this post as complete. If you would like to ask me more questions please start a new post and if you do if you say “This is only for Debra” I will be sure to give your post top priority.

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