Breach of Contract?

[myrtle]

Wisconsin

Here's the senario. Three children; I was granted custody of the two oldest, she got custody of the youngest. I was denied child support even though I had two and she had one. When the second oldest reached emancipation in 2004, she filed for child support for the youngest. I won the case and she was denied child support, which was the only fair decision to make.  (Her income is 3 times mine and does not need the money anyway!)

Now, my attorney just sent me a copy of a proposal from the child support attorney regarding me paying half of the medical insurance and out of pocket costs for the youngest. Also in the mailing was a letter the attorney sent to the child support attorney saying he had no objection to writing up such a court order.  My attorney never called or notified me that this action was taking place. He took it upon himself to make a decision that this was okay to cause me financial responsibility for this after I already paid all costs without her help for two children.

1.  Isn't this a breach of contract? He got this letter from child support attorney, did not call or write to let me know, and just wrote this attorney saying he didn't object to me having to pay half of all of the medical costs for my child.

My ex has made my life one crisis after another, and now my attorney has done this. Please help me out with this. If this is unclear to you, I'd be happy to answer all questions.

Thanks

 

[socrateaser]

Different jurisdictions have different law when it comes to the question of whether or not an party's attorney of record can bind that party to a "substantive" agreement concerning a matter at issue in the case. In CA, no attorney could make such a decision without his client's permission, unless the attorney could first prove that the client had expressly granted the attorney such authority.

However, in GA, the exact reverse is true -- the attorney can bind his client to a substantive agreement without the client's permission, unless the client can prove that such authority had been expressly reserved to the client.

I don't know this area of WI law, and I don't have time to research it, however, you may want to look at your attorney retainer agreement to determine whether you expressly granted such authority as part of your original contract.

After that, I would write the attorney and state that you are in receipt of his correspondence, and, that unless he can show you why the court would be any more likely to grant this award than it has been to grant other child support, that you will not stipulate to such an agreement, and that you are expressly instructing him to resist any attempt to obtain such relief from the court.

I suspect that your attorney believes that you would lose this point in court, or that the cost of your agreeing to pay for the insurance is less than the cost of the attorney's time to defend against the issue. But, either way, your attorney should give you a written memorandum explaining his position.