By Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce · Updated
You can. The question is whether you should, and the cost people underestimate is not the new lawyer's rate — it is the reading.
| Are you allowed to? | Yes. ABA: "You can decide whom to hire (and fire) as your lawyer." |
|---|---|
| The cost nobody budgets for | The new firm has to read the entire file before doing anything, and you pay for that. |
| When it is usually right | A missed deadline; trust genuinely gone; you cannot get a straight account of your own case; you raised a problem formally and nothing changed. |
| When it is usually wrong | Disappointment with the law rather than the lawyer; a court date imminent; the delay is actually the other side's. |
| Timing | Close to a hearing, a change may be impractical or may require the court's permission. |
| Money on account | Unused funds should be accounted for and returned. Get it in writing. |
| Do this first | Line up the new lawyer before ending with the old one. |
Keeping track of dates like these across a stack of letters is exactly what SortMyDivorce does — start a free trial, no card needed.
A deadline was missed. The most serious category. Get a second opinion promptly, because some missed deadlines can be remedied if addressed quickly.
You cannot get a straight account of your own case. If you cannot find out what has happened, what is outstanding and what happens next, that is not a personality problem.
Trust has actually gone. Not frustration — trust. You no longer believe the advice you are getting is sound or the work is being done.
You raised it formally and nothing changed. If you have used the escalation ladder — a written follow-up, a file review, a formal concern in writing — and there was no engagement, that is a different situation from ordinary slowness.
The relationship has become adversarial. Occasionally the lawyer-client relationship simply breaks. That is nobody's fault and it is not worth persisting with.
You are disappointed with the law, not the lawyer. This is genuinely common. A lawyer telling you something you do not want to hear may be doing their job well. A second opinion is cheaper than a change, and often ends the question.
A court date is imminent. A new firm cannot get up to speed quickly, and in some circumstances a change close to a hearing needs the court's permission.
The delay is the other side's. If your matter is stalled waiting on their disclosure, a new lawyer inherits the same wait and you have paid for a handover to get there.
You are on your third firm. Worth an honest look. Sometimes the common factor is the case rather than the counsel, and a new firm may reach the same view.
This is the part people get wrong.
The reading. A new firm has to review the entire file — correspondence, disclosure, court documents, chronology — before it can advise on anything. On a matter that has been running a year, that is a substantial number of billable hours, and you pay for it even though nothing has moved forward.
The overlap. Your outgoing firm will bill for preparing and transferring the file.
The delay. Weeks, typically, between instructing and being fully up to speed.
The lost context. Some of what your first lawyer knew is not in the file. Their read on the other side's counsel, what was said informally, the shape of a negotiation. That does not transfer.
How to reduce all of it: hand the new firm an organised summary — the current position on each issue, what is agreed, what is outstanding, the offer history with dates, and every live deadline. Every hour they do not spend reconstructing that is an hour you do not pay for. If you have kept a record throughout, this is the moment it pays for itself.
Line up the new lawyer first. Have a consultation, confirm they will take the matter, and check for conflicts before you end the old relationship. Being briefly unrepresented mid-matter is a bad position.
Give the new firm the honest version. Including what has gone wrong and why. They need to know what they are inheriting.
End the old relationship in writing. Short and factual. No explanation is required.
Ask for a written account of the current position. What has happened, what is outstanding, what deadlines are live. Ask for this even if the relationship has soured — particularly then.
Deal with the file transfer promptly. Your new lawyer will need it, and delays here are both expensive and risky. There is normally a formal step notifying the court and the other side that representation has changed.
Settle the money. Get a final invoice and an accounting of what remains on account. Unused funds should be returned. If you dispute the bill, that is a separate process — see our guide on challenging a lawyer's bill — and it is generally better to deal with the transfer first.
Tell your new lawyer about every deadline you know of, immediately, rather than assuming it is in the file.
Verification note. The mechanics of changing representation — the formal notice to the court, whether permission is required, and the rules on a firm retaining a file against unpaid fees — differ by jurisdiction and are not stated here. Ask your new lawyer how it works where you are.
Broadly yes — the ABA puts it plainly: "You can decide whom to hire (and fire) as your lawyer." There can be practical constraints close to a hearing, and in some circumstances a court's permission is needed for counsel to come off the record.
Practice and rules on this vary by jurisdiction, and it is a real risk to be aware of. Ask your new lawyer how it works where you are, and try to resolve the account.
A single change is unremarkable. Repeated changes, particularly close to hearings, can attract comment — partly because they delay matters.
Possibly, and that is the point of a second opinion. But if the first advice was sound, a good second lawyer will tell you the same thing. That is useful information rather than a wasted consultation.
Almost always yes. It is much cheaper than a handover, and it answers the question you are actually asking — is the advice wrong, or is the situation just bad?
Last reviewed August 2026. Researched and written by Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice — laws, fees and forms change, so please confirm current details with the official sources above or a local family lawyer.
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