Question about payment towards legal aid??

Hi

Am in a bit of a quandry.

I was awarded legal aid towards solicitor for the ancillary relief hearings and had my FDR, and consent order was agreed and issued. I pay £45 per month towards this. The FDR was in March and the only fall out from that now is the pension sharing order which the solicitor and my stbx are still sorting (I think, although god knows why it takes so long).

My question is... when can I stop paying the contribution towards legal aid, given that it is in effect all done & dusted & only awaiting confirmation by the pension provider that it has been sorted (and transferred?)

Why do I have to pay when nothing is effectively being done? Do I have to? Will they tell me when to stop? Should I tell my solicitor to stop now - as surely it wouldn't cost much to finish now?

Arggghhhh - totally lost in this! Help!
Please.....
Carole

If you stop paying then your certificate will be discharged or revoked.

As the legal aid related to finacial matters, you are likelyto have to pay back the LSC (the statutory charge) for your costs. The monthly amoutns you are paying are payments towards this final bill so if you stop paying you simply end up with a slightly higher bill at the end, as you've paid less towards it.

If you ask your solicitor to apply to discharge the certificate, you can stiop paying (the file will then be billed to work out how much you owe the LSC) but you would then have to pay for any work your solicitors do to conclude matters, on a private basis. This is likely to work out more expensive - private rates are typically £150 - £250 per hour + VAT. Legal Aid rates are more complicated as it isn't worked out on a fixed hourly rate, but average costs are typically betwen 1/3 and 1/3 of the private rate for the same work.