The price of separation - Legal Ombudsman

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06These two pressures, then – the vocational and the financial – canbe in tension. Good lawyers, the majority of those with whom wedeal, manage these tensions with admirable deftness. But somelawyers, whether through their own inability or inexperience orbecause they are put under pressure by customers, allow cases tobe prolonged unnecessarily.In some of the cases we see, divorcing couples are clearlycommitted to pursuing their case whatever the consequences untilthe case becomes a ‘divorce of attrition’. If this happens, lawyerscan appear to be the only ones to benefit. Take Mrs B’s case:as neither she nor her husband was willing to compromise onwhat they wanted, her costs soon mounted. She was drawn into anacrimonious, drawn out legal battle and at the end of the case shefound to her horror that the final bill was nearly £70,000.After we investigated her case, we found that the firm’s serviceoverall had been reasonable. They had also correctly chargedfor the work they had carried out. However, the firm had neithersought to challenge Mrs B’s approach nor inform her of hermounting costs – even when it became apparent that the costwould substantially exceed the original estimate. Consequently, weagreed an informal resolution with the firm and they reduced thebill by £30,000.For lawyers, the lesson here is to prioritise the need to helpcustomers manage their case. However, in some cases, the lawyerhas clearly done everything possible to dissuade the customer frompursuing an unacheiveable objective or unreasonable course ofaction. In those instances, the customer has to take responsibilityfor the outcome.Take the case of Mrs G: despite being advised that shecould reasonably expect around 50% of her and her estrangedhusband’s joint assets and £500 a month for spousal maintenance,Mrs G insisted she would hold out for 70% and £700 a month.When things didn’t work out as she had hoped, Mrs G complainedabout her lawyer to us. However, an ombudsman judged thatthe firm had given balanced and clear advice and had ultimatelyacted in her best interests. It was therefore decided that no poorservice had been provided.The price of separation: Divorce related legal complaints and their causes
07Issues of qualityIn many of the complaints we investigate, money is thecentral issue. However, issues of quality are alsosignificant.Whether or not a lawyer has a reputation for delivering qualityis clearly vitally important to customers: in the BDRC study 62%of legal service users said that reputation was key – making itthe biggest single driver for choosing a lawyer. And reputation isinfluenced most heavily by the standard of service being provided.Despite this, we see numerous cases in which service levels simplyaren’t good enough.Around 18% of divorce related complaints are about the lawyerfailing to provide adequate legal advice 6 . Where we found poorservice in this area, the key issue was often the poor standard ofinformation provided to the customer. Sometimes, this lack of careand attention can have serious consequences. Take Ms E’s case:the extent of her lawyer’s errors and oversights meant that aftermonths of getting nowhere in her divorce case, she eventuallyhad to instruct another firm, incurring significant delays and costs.Ms E suffered with depression and anxiety, which she blamed onher lawyer’s failings. After investigating, an ombudsman decidedthat she should be reimbursed for fees, court costs and the costof the additional work carried out by the second law firm, as wellreceiving compensation for her considerable distress.The lawyer was also reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authorityfor suspected misconduct.6 18% of matrimonialrelated legal complaintsto the Legal Ombudsmanwere about a failure toprovide adequate legaladvice between 1 April -31 December 2012Another example is Mr D’s case: he instructed someone hebelieved to be a ‘divorce specialist’ only to be on the receiving endof a catalogue of errors. At the same time, costs were building upwithout his knowledge.We found that the lawyer in fact knew very little about matrimoniallaw. He had been using Mr D’s money to pay a barrister to carryout simple tasks and had lost key documents. We ordered thelawyer to waive some of the outstanding fees and to award Mr Dcompensation for distress and inconvenience.The price of separation: Divorce related legal complaints and their causes
Page 2 and 3: ContentsSummary 01Introduction 01Ma
Page 4 and 5: 02In addition to the emotions invol
Page 6 and 7: 04the initial work to be done, toge
Page 10 and 11: 08And of course, issues do not just
Page 12 and 13: The matrimonial market10The sorts o
Page 14 and 15: 12ConclusionAs this report illustra
Page 16 and 17: 14The firm contested the investigat
Page 18 and 19: 164. Pricey and diceyMr D instructe
Page 20 and 21: 18As the lawyer had allegedly been
Page 22 and 23: 208. An unlikely storyMrs H instruc

The price of separation - Legal Ombudsman

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