Lawyer's Fee

[Travel2003]

Guys,

I need a little help here.

I will tell you a story first, trying to make it as short as possible.

A friend, and of mine met a lady in 2001.

They moved in together the year after, and then got married in 2003.

Not legally, but only the celebration, as he was planning all the documentation later when he returned from work.

They have a son together now.

They split up in 2005. She just dumped him and found herself another (farang) boyfriend while he was away at work.

He spent almost 2 million Baht on this relationship (including a bankbook with about 8-900 000, that she emptied as well).

Ok,

he went to a lawyer here in BKK 5 months ago, as she refused to let him see his son.

All he now wants is to have shared custody for the son, so he can be allowed to see his son once in a while.

He actually has a DNA test from Bungrumrad Hospital (sorry if wronged spelled) to prove he is the father.

Now, after about 5 months of back and forth with his lawyer, the lawyer suddenly presents my friend with a list of documents and proofs he needs to produce!

This, I believe could have been handed to my friend after a few weeks.

They will schedule a court day up in her home town later this year.

Then the bill came!

So far, my friend has paid about 30 000 Baht in fees to the lawyer.

Now he got a preliminary bill of 230 000 Baht, with the possibilities that he must pay and additional 100 000.

This is supposed to take care of all costs (not including the travel expenses to the court).

Please give me a comment guys.

To me this seems like a huge bill, for a seemingly easy case to handle.

Rgds

Sailor

[ajahnlau]

A friend here up-country just had a lawyer do his divorce. He wanted joint custody so that he could take care of daughter on his time off from work. Went to court 2 times and once to child services. Total cost 32,000bht.

[johna]

Your friend may want to contact the Law Society of Thailand which among other things supervises the conduct of its members

[Neeranam]

I used to work for a law firm in Bkk. The top lawyers there charged 7,000 baht an hour. This was the same in other international law firms like Clifford Chance Wirot and Allen Overy.

There's a lot of rip-off lawyers out there.

Your friend has been well and truly screwed. Tell him not to marry women he meets in holiday destinations in Thailand. Stupid stupid stupid.

[Travel2003]

Thank you guys.

I had a strong feeling about this.

My friend is one of those unbelievable nice guys, with sometimes a too big heart.

Guess we all know at least one person like that.

Once again, thank you guys.

Rgds

Sailor