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Lawyer and retainer fees.
Dear all I am weighing out the options of getting a lawyer or being allocated a legal aid lawyer. What are the entitlements of getting access to legal aid, does the service differ from a pro bona lawyer?
Does any one have any idea of a approximately how much I am looking to pay? for e.g. relocation of a Minor to another European country?
And what are the average retainer fees do they differ from lawyer to lawyer?
I have asked a few and my mouth dropped on the ground? So I would like to find out anyone has experiences these dealing with lawyers, retainer fees or legal aid, sharing is caring.
Many thanks for you help.
There's no choice. You can't chose legal aid - either you qualify and should be grateful for it, or you do not qualify and have to pay whether you can afford to or not.
legal costs are high in belgium. we are in the middle of a court case. it has been dragging on for 5 years - it takes 2 years to go to court in brussels and there is a risk on the day the other lawyer will be unable to attend, then you wait another 2 years. our lawyer charges 100 euro an hour, but if he picks up the phone, says merry christmas or even writes us a bill, that is an hour. many lawyers decline to take any pro bono work. if you qualify for legal aid and you can get a lwwyer to take your case you will save a fortune. to date we have paid our lawyer 17000 euro plus court costs. i would advise trying to go to a justice de paix, more informal, or agreeing to use a mediator. otherwise if you have the child, they will probably be old enough to decide themselves before the court case is finished. and you can always appeal. we are hoping to get our money back in about 2 years from now.
Pixie if you qualify for legal aid how can you consider paying a lawyer? I have no experience of legal aid or pro bono work here or elsewhere, however I'd say having some representation even not great representation is better than ignorance of all the in and puts on legal matters.
