Send the lawyer a letter confirming her statement that she agreed to remove your husband from your father in law's case at no extra charge. To your knowledge, this agreement was to cover any and all contingencies, inclusive of court appearances. Therefore, it is inappropriate that you are now requesting extra fees in order to represent my husband in court.

Then you must see how she responds to the letter. The difficulty with the situation is that she is already in the middle of the case. Therefore, if she disagrees with your position, your best bet would be to let her finish the case and then dispute the extra charges afterwards.

It is winnable although I do not know the exact context of the conversation that you had at the time with the lawyer. Also, as I mentioned previously, you should document all of your concerns in a letter to the attorney. She may see your point of view when she receives something in writing.