solicitor is holding onto funds that were awarded to me

A friend is in this situation:

"My solicitor is holding onto funds that were awarded to me in a judicial separation. The court ruling found that my ex spouse is liable to pay the legal fees that were incurred during the whole separation hearing - but my solicitor is saying that they cannot obtain these fees from my ex and he has no assets in his name so they will be using the funds awarded to me as payment. Is this right? Can they go against a court ruling and make me pay for my ex's costs?"

Can anyone shed any light on the legality of this behaviour?

There is another thread running that deals with the issues raised by your friend.

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=161446

Your friend needs to re-adjust her thinking on this. The wording you use seems to suggest that she does not regard herself as responsible for her own solicitors fees - but that her ex husband, who clearly has no money, should pay them. So, her own solicitors never get paid and she gets to keep what she was awarded in Court.

She owes her own solicitors and they have clearly gathered that she is reluctant to pay them. Which is why they are holding onto the funds.

And yes, as per the above thread, she should have received a Section 68 letter from her own solicitors and , I imagine, it would be safe to assume that they did discuss fees with her in advance of the Court date and on the Court date.

mf

Your friends mindset if very close to the "passing the debt" mindset.

=======================

You owe A money.

B who owes you money agrees to pay A money.

A agree to this in principle, but it turns out that B doesn't follow through.

You still owe A money.