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How much will my family law issue cost me? This depends on how your lawyer bills you. Please take a moment to review the information below, as it will help you regardless of whom you hire. How do lawyers get paid? A lawyer can either get paid by the hour or receive a flat fee. Under a flat fee arrangement, you pay the lawyer the full amount due up front, and he or she completes your case for that amount, regardless of how much time it actually takes. I bill on an hourly basis, as do most family law attorneys. What is covered when you bill by the hour? Abraham Lincoln said, “A lawyer's time and advice are his stock in trade.” When you hire a lawyer, you should expect to pay for every second he spends advancing your interests. But you should never pay for a second more. Most lawyers use “minimum billing charges.” This means that whenever they perform any task on your case, they bill you for a minimum amount of time, regardless of how long the task actually takes to perform. For example, if a lawyer reads a letter from the opposing party, you could be billed for 1/10th of an hour, or six minutes of time, even if the letter takes 15 seconds to read. Some lawyers have minimum billing charges as high as a quarter of an hour for any task they perform for you. Many lawyers also use “value billing,” where they have a minimum charge for a specific task, such as one hour for drafting a divorce petition, or a half hour for doing a child support worksheet. Again, this is regardless of how long it actually takes. How is Chris Worden different? My philosophy is “real time billing.” You pay ONLY for time actually spent on your case. When I do work for you, my computer clock goes on. When the task is completed, the clock goes off. I bill you for each second I spend on your case, but not a second more. In my mind, this is just common sense and fairness in action for both of us. What forms of payment does Chris Worden accept? Personal checks, cash, cashier’s checks, money orders, Visa, and Mastercard. What is a retainer and how does it work? A retainer is an advance you pay when you hire an attorney. Your lawyer should place your retainer in a trust account. As your attorney performs work on your case, he pays him or herself from the trust account. If your case concludes and money is still in the trust account, your attorney must return it to you. If your attorney earns the entire retainer, he or she may request an additional retainer or send you a monthly bill for services. What is your retainer? The retainer I request varies depending on the nature and facts of your case. Child custody disputes are the most labor-intensive cases (and costly) and a retainer of $2,500 or more is not uncommon. A retainer of $750 is customary for a divorce without a custody fight. What is your hourly rate? One hundred fifty dollars ($150) per hour. When you pay a lawyer an hourly rate, this does not include expenses, which you must also cover. These expenses include items like postage, filing fees, long-distance, expert consultation and witness fees, photocopying costs, and depositions, just to name a few. Any cost I incur on your behalf gets passed on to you. Do you charge a consultation fee? Yes. It is the same as my hourly rate, $150 per hour. Generally, I can advise you on everything you need to know about divorce in a half-hour to forty-five minutes. |