Can i ask a lawyer for a refund ?

Question

Hi

I must commend you for the good work you are doing to ease stress on foreigners. My brother applied for Asylum in Germany in May 2015 and his clam was rejected and he appealed (Klage) in court since May 2017 and haven't being invited for hearing till now. He has attended basic German language class and had worked for more than 30months here in Munich. He got married to a German since June 2019 and Ausländerbehörde in Munich was not complying regarding his resident permit as the law requires. He hired a lawyer on Nov. 2019 and paid him €450 but since then till now, he is yet to submit a successful resident permit application. He has called the lawyer severally and he keep telling him that Ausländerbehörde is yet to reply him. My friend said he has lost faith in that lawyer already. Can he ask the lawyer for refund?

Answer 1

Hi @Nwokeoma,

thank you for contacting wefugees. And thanks for the compliment, we are doing our very best.

It is not unusual that the work of lawyers is not "visible" for the client and takes long time. That means, it's probably true that the lawyer is still waiting for a reply of the Ausländerbehörde (and this can really take time, as we all know).

Anyway if it is not clear for your brother what the strategy of the lawyer is, I recommend to make an appointment and talk about everything again.

Getting a refund will be hard or nearly impossible. Your brother signed a contract and the lawyer started working according to this contract. If your brother would now quit the contract the lawyer would have to write a final invoice where he offsets all the work he has done so far with the money that was already paid. I am pretty sure this would end with your brother not getting back anything. So I highly recommend to try and fix the problem in an appointment with the lawyer. If this doesn't work, he can still quit.

I wish you good luck.

Regards

mbeon-Ruth

I hope my answers were helpful and I would be very happy if you would contact me again with further questions. I'm a consultant with mbeon and I‘ll be glad to help you over a longer period of time. Mbeon is an online advice for migrants via the mbeon app, which you can install on your smartphone for free. Download it from App Store or Google Play Store. You can find me in the mbeon app and get confidential individual advice in a secure virtual space without other people reading our conversation. Further information: ***.mbeon.de.

Comments

@mbeon-Ruth Thank you very much for the reply. We're going to do as you advised. Regards Nwokeoma Ebigy.