Fixed contract payment issue with client

[#1]

Hi everyone,
Unfortunately I have been dealing with a very bad client, I worked with him 6 months on hourly contract - then 40 days ago his account was suspended due to payment issues with his credit card, i checked with him and he assured me that all will be sorted and to continue working. Long story short, now he owes me one month payment, after chasing him for 15 days he said he will fix it and instead of adding the pending amount as bonus to the hourly contract, he closed the contract and asked me for fixed amount invoice, I sent him the invoice as a proposal and he funded when I submitted the request for payment to get my money he refused to pay. So now the fixed rate contract is pending for payment approval and I don't know what to do. Should I take legal action against him? How would this be sorted he is very tricky and keep delaying my payment? What happens for fixed contracts if client refuse to pay?
Thank you and sorry for the long post.
This been very frustrating and I know it's my fault for trusting him.

[#2]

A client can't refuse to pay a funded milestone. You submit for payment and wait 14 days and get paid automatically. Next time, do what upwork tells you to do: when a contract is suspended, don't work on it. 

[#3]

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Marwa A wrote:
 i checked with him and he assured me that all will be sorted and to continue working. Long story short, now he owes me one month payment, .

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Upwork TOLD you to stop working. You didn't. That's on you.

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Marwa A wrote:
 I sent him the invoice as a proposal and he funded when I submitted the request for payment to get my money he refused to pay. So now the fixed rate contract is pending for payment approval and I don't know what to do. 

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Was a contract created and did you use the official "submit for payment" function? Has the client requested changes or just done nothing? If you submitted for payment correctly, the funds are released 14 days after you submitted automatically unless the client requests for payment.

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Marwa A wrote:
Should I take legal action against him?

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Is the client in the same jurisdiction as you are and can you afford to?  The client is on a different continent. I'd be surprised if you could afford a lawsuit in Australia... At any rate, it's far too early to even talk about that sort of thing.

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Marwa A wrote:
So now the fixed rate contract is pending for payment approval.

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What do you mean by "it's pending for payment" - Is the proposed contract pending (meaning nothing is funded and nothing to dispute) or was a contract created and you correctly submitted for payment through the appropriate function on the contract?

[#4]

"I checked with him and he assured me that all will be sorted and to continue working"

Does the wildebeest rely on the crocodile's assurances that it isn't hungry and won't eat him when he leans in to take a drink?

[#5]

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Tonya P wrote:

"I checked with him and he assured me that all will be sorted and to continue working"

Does the wildebeest rely on the crocodile's assurances that it isn't hungry and won't eat him when he leans in to take a drink?

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Depends. Is the crocodile an upwork client?

[#6]

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Tonya P wrote:

"I checked with him and he assured me that all will be sorted and to continue working"

Does the wildebeest rely on the crocodile's assurances that it isn't hungry and won't eat him when he leans in to take a drink?

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Well, I agree, but what if the crocodile had not only not eaten the wildebeest for months, but been giving it presents too?

That Client had already reliably paid the OP over $10k.

With that record I'd also have been tempted to put in a few days to give the client a chance to fix it, but not a month of course.