Fee Disputes With Your Attorney. How to file a complaint against your lawyer on billing.
Many women who have been abused by their lawyer are completely unware that they can file a fee dispute complaint and may be entitled to some or all of the legal fees back. We have found that these lawyers brow beat and bully their women clients. Perhaps, that why we see more women with attorney billing complaints than men. These divorce billing complaints oftentimes involve claims over tens of thousands of dollars. If you have an attorney bill complaint, make sure you know your rights.
First, if you there is a disagreement about the lawyer bill, he cannot bill you for discussing it. If you dispute the lawyer's bill, call first and get an explanation. If he bills you, then he has committed an ethical violation.
If the attorney has not provided prompt, accurate billing, he may have to refund the fee. The rules governing lawyer billing are fairly strict. If the rules have been violated then you can file a billing or fee dispute.
An attorney billing complaint generally starts when the client notices not just wrong charges but heavy billing. Double billing, billing for work not done, billing for a full morning in court when the attorney had two or three other cases on, are just some examples of practices which lead to billing complaints.
Additionally, your lawyer must provide a written bill every 60 days. This bill must contain a break down of all the work done and the time each task took to complaint. Failure to provide a bill every 60 days could cause the lawyer to loss the fee dispute.
If you have a divorce billing dispute, you should read the rules. If you feeel the need to make a complaint about the bill, you must follow the rules set up by the Office of Court Adminstration.
You can also sue your attorney for the fees owed and/or sue him for malpractice.
The Office of Court administration has established a program to assist clients who have dispute the accuracy of their legal bills. This program is found in 22 NYCRR 137. It is know as a "137 complaint."
You can obtain a broshure for this program by clicking here.
Each county has it's own program. You file in the county where the work was done. Generally, that means you file the fee dispute complaint in the court your divorce was filed. Click on the County to link to get more information about a specific county's program
Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester Counties
Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster Counties
Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, Onondaga and Oswego Counties
Cayuga, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne and Yates Counties
Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming Counties
