If you or someone you know have worked with an attorney on a sensitive matter and then later you believe that your legal counsel may have not provided you appropriate advice or service, you may need or want to consider investigating a malpractice claim. This can be a challenging situation indeed and one of the first things you will want to understand is whether or not you are actually able to do this. The timing involved in your situation will play a big part in determining this.
As explained by the Florida Statutes, there are legally identified timeframes in which any malpractice or other action seeking recourse may be initiated. These are officially referred to as statutes of limitations. The length of time you have to start a malpractice claim against a lawyer is generally 24 months but that is not necessarily from the date that the error or negligent action occurred. Instead, your two-year statute of limitations begins from the date that you did or should have first learned about the problem. What may be deemed as a date upon which you should have known about an error may be a somewhat subjective topic that different parties may identify differently.
This statute of limitations is different than that for other types of actions as some situations have statutes of limitations up to 20 years.
If you would like to learn more about your ability to pursue compensation or other recourse from a legal professional after a believed act of malpractice, please feel free to visit the statutes of limitations page on our Florida professional malpractice website.