The Law Offices of FoH
- Thread starter fred sanford
- Start date
-
Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!
Go here and give us your nominations!Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!
Rename this thread to "I'm too cheap to talk to a lawyer so I want Cad to answer my questions for free" thread.
Then Shaw it
Then Shaw it
- 4
- 3
- 1
zombiewizardhawk
Potato del Grande
- 9,986
- 12,936
Will I have to go to NC in person to take care of my warrant there or will a lawyer be able to do it without me having to fly/greyhound down there?
Since we have the thread already...
Since we have the thread already...
- 1
- 1
Cad
scientia potentia est
- 25,843
- 50,750
I don’t mind answering questions that I think are interesting and that I can answer without doing any research (a.k.a. “Work”).
99% of the time the answer is “this isn’t really a problem the legal system can handle” combined with “did you go talk to them?”
- 3
- 2
Frenzied Wombat
Potato del Grande
- 14,730
- 31,803
Dunno, but an old girlfriend of mine had a warrant out for her arrest in NJ because of unpaid fines for garbage collection (she owned a rental property and tenants put garbage out on wrong day) and she was able to send a lawyer in her place while she was in Texas.
- 1
Frenzied Wombat
Potato del Grande
- 14,730
- 31,803
Unless you signed something consider that retainer long gone unless he's feeling very charitable. You paid him a retainer for something specific, and that thing is done.
- 1
Frenzied Wombat
Potato del Grande
- 14,730
- 31,803
I don't think a retainer is the same thing as a deposit. You are paying him to retain his services in the event that you need them. If you're a big time drug dealer paying a lawyer a monthly retainer, you don't get to ask for a refund at year end just because you never got arrested.
- 1
Cad
scientia potentia est
- 25,843
- 50,750
Thats not correct, retainers are refundable if legal services are not carried out. There have been recent ethics opinions on this if you’re interested in searching.
- 1
Frenzied Wombat
Potato del Grande
- 14,730
- 31,803
Foggy
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
- 6,343
- 4,928
It is just nomenclature. Making the deposit has retained the attorney’s services. As the attorney works, the expenses will be offset against the retainer. Typically the attorney will request a replinishment of the retainer as it nears exhaustion so the attorney isn’t left out to dry with a huge unpaid bill.
Depending on the state, attorneys don’t like to hang on to retainers when services aren’t being rendered or expected to be rendered shortly because they cannot actually do anything with the money (Texas is like this) and it’s just a liability.
Edit: Also, I suspect it is a relic of a time when the concept of the retainer was more akin to your description.
Depending on the state, attorneys don’t like to hang on to retainers when services aren’t being rendered or expected to be rendered shortly because they cannot actually do anything with the money (Texas is like this) and it’s just a liability.
Edit: Also, I suspect it is a relic of a time when the concept of the retainer was more akin to your description.
- 1
Cad
scientia potentia est
- 25,843
- 50,750
It is supposed to be like a pre-payment. It’s a deposit so that the lawyer knows he can be paid - you can imagine convicted criminals aren’t itching to pay, so payment after the fact usually doesn’t go well.
- 1
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
- 66,088
- 150,611
oh, is this possible b/c garbage collection was done by the city so they can use state police to basically "write a ticket"? as opposed to not paying a gas bill, which just goes to collections
ah so a retainer is just like filling up a burner phone w/ 50$
- 1
Frenzied Wombat
Potato del Grande
- 14,730
- 31,803
No idea. Just know that my GF at the time freaked the hell out one day and said she had a warrant out for her arrest back in Jersey because her property manager kept ignoring the fines and the property is in her name. It's fucking Jersey, so I am sure besides the million different taxes/fees/permits they enforce, they have ways to make sure you pay one way or another.
- 1
Kriptini
Vyemm Raider
- 3,683
- 3,574
Find a problematic ad from your favorite fast food restaurant, sue because you're offended, settle for a year's supply of free food.
- 1
- 1
SuperNaught
Trakanon Raider
- 417
- 1,403