We hired an attorney in a custody case 12 months ago & have pd up to $15,000 only to have him withdraw 3 weeks ago and we are a long way from being finished. He withdrew due to lack of funds. The original attorney never appeared in court & we learned later that he didn't like to travel to our area of the state. He turned over our case to a new attorney in their firm but continued to consult with him on our case for the next 6 months. Therefore we were billed for 2 attorneys at $185.00 per hr rather than for just one and his assistant. At one point we were be billed for as many as 4 assistants at $75.00 per hour each + the two attorneys.

Only the 2nd attorney made it here for one hearing and never made it here for any others. They refused to file motions for contempt against the other party & we remained in a defensive position through out while the other side hammmered us with repeated & unnecessary motions.

I though lawyers couldn't just quit on a client, when they had been offering representation for so long, because of financial short falls.

Any comments?

I think that they can refuse to do thier job, if you can not afford to pay them for it. I don't agree with them charging you with transferring your case to another attorney, but I am not knowledgable of the laws pertaining to this. I hope I am wrong, and you could seek some help from your attorney, or both of them. So sorry this happened! Maybe you could call the bar association, they may have answers, once again, just a guess on my part.