Delayed solicitor invoice

Camps

Hi,

I used a solicitor for my separation and paid my bill of over 12k back in 2017.
I had a few emails with them after the fact, in early 2018.

I've recently pulled the trigger on my divorce and am using a different solicitor for that. They've requested my file from my old solicitor however they're not able to obtain it as my old solicitor told them there's €600+ owning from me.

I was never invoiced for this so I queried it. My old solicitor then sent me a bill with a breakdown of the costs from the emails which happened in 2018. They said that they won't release my file until it's paid and said they didn't previously invoice me because there were some outstanding questions. I don't know what those outstanding questions were.

My questions are;
Do I have to pay a bill for correspondence that's over 3 years old? (I, probably stupidly, assumed that the 12k would have covered those emails.)
Can they withhold my file from my new solicitor until this is paid?

Thanks.

Dolbhad

Camps wrote: »

Hi,

I used a solicitor for my separation and paid my bill of over 12k back in 2017.
I had a few emails with them after the fact, in early 2018.

I've recently pulled the trigger on my divorce and am using a different solicitor for that. They've requested my file from my old solicitor however they're not able to obtain it as my old solicitor told them there's €600+ owning from me.

I was never invoiced for this so I queried it. My old solicitor then sent me a bill with a breakdown of the costs from the emails which happened in 2018. They said that they won't release my file until it's paid and said they didn't previously invoice me because there were some outstanding questions. I don't know what those outstanding questions were.

My questions are;
Do I have to pay a bill for correspondence that's over 3 years old? (I, probably stupidly, assumed that the 12k would have covered those emails.)
Can they withhold my file from my new solicitor until this is paid?

Thanks.

Yes they can hold your file. It sounds like they did work and hadn’t billed you yet and weren’t going to raise a small invoice on the basis you would have to go back to them for the divorce and include it in the next invoice. But you can of course look for a breakdown of what the fee entails and proof of the hours of work put in to accrue the fee.

Claw Hammer

They can't claim a lien unless they had issued an invoice.