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Diamonds and Pearls of WisdomThe DivorceWizards Blog, by Lynne DiamondThe Attorney Trust (ha ha) FundThursday, November 16, 2006 A client came in the other day asking me to help her complete some ancillary paperwork to her divorce. She need a Qualified Domestic Relations Order to divide her husband’s retirement plan and a wage assignment to have her spousal support sent directly from his employer to her bank account. She had just finished her two year, $9000 Orange County Divorce. I told her the time frame was about average and the cost was very reasonable compared to many others. Her attorney billed at $250 rather than $450 the going rate today in major metropolitan California areas.Debbie told me that she and her husband sold their house about three weeks after the divorce began. They made a $300,000 profit and had agreed to split the net proceeds from the sale. Because they were still litigating, the funds went into Debbie’s attorney’s trust (ha ha) fund. About a year later, Debbie’s daughter announced the good news of her wedding – Debbie had to borrow money to give her daughter a wedding because her house money was still sitting in the attorney trust (ha ha) fund. Debbie’s husband and his attorney signed the judgment for divorce in June and Debbie’s attorney finally got around to it in October. Since Debbie was unable to get through to her attorney to get her money, she found a friend of a friend who was willing to help… another attorney. So when he called Debbie’s attorney at 5 to 5 on Friday, Debbie’s attorney agreed to release Debbie’s funds. However, she was firing Debbie and refused to complete any more of the required paperwork for her. My good luck! Oh – here is the ha ha part. Debbie did not receive any interest of her money. All the interest on funds in the attorney trust (ha ha) account goes to the California State Bar for the benefit of it’s attorney members. |