· When a principal takes power of attorney away from someone, the process is relatively simple. The principal must draft a power of attorney revocation form. Because these documents are not filed with courts, a power of attorney revocation form does not have to follow any specific format. However, it’s important to include the following information:
· Article Summary X. Before you fire an attorney, make sure to read over the contract you’ve signed with them, which will detail the steps you need to take. As a general rule, you’ll need to formally notify your attorney of the termination and pay the agreed upon fees in order to terminate the contract.
If that doesn't work, as a last resort you may need to sue your lawyer in small claims court, asking the court for money to compensate you for what you've spent on redoing work in the file or trying to get the file.
If you lost money because of the way your lawyer handled your case, consider suing for malpractice. Know, however, that it is not an easy task. You must prove two things:
If you're not satisfied with your lawyer's strategy decisions or with the arguments the lawyer has been making on your behalf, you may even want to go to the law library and do some reading to educate yourself about your legal problem.
Every state has an agency responsible for licensing and disciplining lawyers. In most states, it's the bar association; in others, the state supreme court. The agency is most likely to take action if your lawyer has failed to pay you money that you won in a settlement or lawsuit, made some egregious error such as failing to show up in court, didn't do legal work you paid for, committed a crime, or has a drug or alcohol abuse problem.
If you want to sue for legal malpractice, do it as quickly as possible. A common defense raised by attorneys sued for malpractice is that the client waited too long to sue. And because this area of the law can be surprisingly complicated and confusing, there's often plenty of room for argument.
But all states except Maine, New Mexico, and Tennessee do have funds from which they may reimburse clients whose attorneys stole from them.