Personal injury matter , paying solicitor all sorts in advance ?

Dubgal1980

Can anyone give me some advice on this plz , personal injury matter , every few months solicitor is asking me for a few hundred for this form , or this certain stamp etc etc , is this standard practice ?? Never been involved in anything like this before so I'm very unsure , any advice appreciated

seamus

Yeah, it would be pretty standard for solicitors to ask for payment of these kinds of expenses up front.

Dubgal1980

Thanks for that , appreciated

xxtippchickxx

my solicitor handling my case three years now and ive not paid him a cent guess they all different

Youngblood.III

If the case is a 100% chance of winning, normally the solicitor will hold off charging till the case is settled, if it's a 70% chance they're making sure they're getting some pay along the way. Less of a big bill at the end for you.

Dubgal1980

Thx for that , I assumed cause it was a no win no fee thing that he was charging me for everything in advance , only in Ireland does a bloody *stamp* cost over 300 euro ! Madness

234

Dubgal1980 wrote: »

Thx for that , I assumed cause it was a no win no fee thing that he was charging me for everything in advance , only in Ireland does a bloody *stamp* cost over 300 euro ! Madness

Court fees are common across the world. Not uniquely Irish at all.

Dubgal1980

234 wrote: »

Court fees are common across the world. Not uniquely Irish at all.

I'm well aware of that , my point was how rediculously overpriced it is to have a court document stamped here , I seriously doubt it's that expensive anywhere else in Europe , but of course I could be wrong

coylemj

Dubgal1980 wrote: »

Thx for that , I assumed cause it was a no win no fee thing that he was charging me for everything in advance , only in Ireland does a bloody *stamp* cost over 300 euro ! Madness

Some of the money is probably for medical and expert witnesses, none of whom are in on the 'no foal no fee' deal so they need to be paid for their reports, regardless of whether you win or not.

234

Dubgal1980 wrote: »

I'm well aware of that , my point was how rediculously overpriced it is to have a court document stamped here , I seriously doubt it's that expensive anywhere else in Europe , but of course I could be wrong

Its not. Most countries try to run their court systems through fees for litigants. Currently, the Courts Service is mostly self-funded. If it were not the taxpayer would have to subsidise it to a greater extent than it currently does.

If you look at the cost simply as the cost of stamping then it seems excessive, but what you are really paying for is the cost of accessing the courts.

Dubgal1980

coylemj wrote: »

Some of the money is probably for medical and expert witnesses, none of whom are in on the 'no foal no fee' deal so they need to be paid for their reports, regardless of whether you win or not.

I've paid for all medical reports etc already , this case is at its final stage so apparently the 300 plus stamp fee is to set a hearing date ?? This is what I was told anyway , can't find much online about it so I just paid it , hope there's no more unexpected fees like this one !

Pro Hoc Vice

234 wrote: »

Its not. Most countries try to run their court systems through fees for litigants. Currently, the Courts Service is mostly self-funded. If it were not the taxpayer would have to subsidise it to a greater extent than it currently does.

If you look at the cost simply as the cost of stamping then it seems excessive, but what you are really paying for is the cost of accessing the courts.

In the 2012 Courts Service Report the costs of the Couts Service was if I remember correctly 120,000,000 and stamp duty raised some 50,000,000, of that figure. The Irish system is one of the cheapest based on cost per person, in the OECD joint third with I think Denmark and first is Iceland.

But you are correct recent large increases will bring the court service closer to requiring little funding from the exchequer.

Pro Hoc Vice

Dubgal1980 wrote: »

I've paid for all medical reports etc already , this case is at its final stage so apparently the 300 plus stamp fee is to set a hearing date ?? This is what I was told anyway , can't find much online about it so I just paid it , hope there's no more unexpected fees like this one !

http://www.courts.ie/courts.ie/library3.nsf/pagecurrent/DCA02986D4EFEFF8802576D9005ED259?opendocument&l=en

18. On setting down an action for trial. €250.00 The setting down docket

I assume the extra €50 is town agents fees to actually go to the central office.

234

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

In the 2012 Courts Service Report the costs of the Couts Service was if I remember correctly 120,000,000 and stamp duty raised some 50,000,000, of that figure. The Irish system is one of the cheapest based on cost per person, in the OECD joint third with I think Denmark and first is Iceland.

But you are correct recent large increases will bring the court service closer to requiring little funding from the exchequer.

I think that fines go a long way to off-setting the remaining amount.

Pro Hoc Vice

234 wrote: »

I think that fines go a long way to off-setting the remaining amount.

17million if I remember.

Mr. Incognito

The stamping fees also stop spurious law suits albeit not enough of them unfortunately