FEES & COSTS

Everyone wants to be careful with attorney fees, us included. Potential clients always ask our lawyers how much their case will cost. Unfortunately, we can’t provide much insight into their final bill, because there are too many factors at play. The most critical factor impacting the overall cost of a case is the degree of conflict. A client’s ability to control the degree of conflict in a family law dispute is sometimes limited. The amount of conflict is often unknown or underestimated.

Many other factors may also impact the cost of a case. Those include poor strategic planning and selecting an attorney based on factors not related to your goal. Since there are so many things impacting the cost of a case, it’s impossible for a good attorney to quote you an overall cost. We can, however, use our experience to provide you insight into how certain factors impact the average cost, as determined by the American Bar Association. Studies provide insight on average costs, but it can be a mistake to assume your case falls in the “average” category.

Being realistic about the extent of conflict in your case will give you the best estimate of your potential costs.

At Modern Family Law, we find compassionate and considerate ways to help clients afford our legal services. We help clients avoid excessive up-front retainers so they can keep their money where it matters most – in their hands.

Modern Family Law retainers are not “pre-payments” on your bill. The retainer is a typical security deposit. For example, our firm may quote you $3,000 as a retainer (amount varies). We then bill you for whatever work we do twice a month. Once your case is over, we give you back your retainer of $3,000, less any outstanding balance.

Many firms may quote you $5,000 as a retainer. They’ll bill their fees from that retainer, and then they may ask you for another one. Their retainer operates like an advance. But then your money is tied up in your lawyer’s bank account. We think you probably need it more than they do.

More control. Better accountability. Lower upfront cost. You need your resources more than your lawyer does.

We continue to lead the industry in innovation, setting new standards. Our Reduced Retainer program is just one of those game-changing innovations. We’re the first to offer reduced retainers based on a client’s credit. Potential clients can now pre-qualify for different levels of retainers, including a no-retainer offer.

We do a soft credit check for those with good or better credit, providing results within an hour of applying. This program is just another way we help keep client’s money in their hands.

Please speak to an MFL attorney about our Reduced Retainer program. They will be able to help start the process.

1. Carefully pick and choose your battles.
2. Resolve as many issues as you can with your spouse at the kitchen table.
3. Those issues you can’t resolve, take to a mediator with your lawyers present.
4. Hire a very good mediator.
5. Work very hard at mediation to resolve all of your issues.
6. Use your attorney’s staff time, rather than the attorney’s time.
7. Don’t hire someone because they make big promises.

Multimillion-dollar marital estate cases can often settle for only a few thousand dollars in attorney fees, while smaller estate cases can explode into the unmanageable. The distinguishing factor isn’t the size of the estate, but rather the degree of conflict.

The color of the tennis shoes, grandma’s dish towels, high-efficiency light bulbs – all potential sources of conflict.  Any of these conflicts could cost more in attorney fees than your next mortgage payment.  Is it worth it?  Instinctively, we know it’s not.  But people fight over things like this – and spend their life savings doing it – all the time.  Why?

Sometimes, it’s a proxy.  They’re not really fighting over gramma’s dish towels.  They’re using gramma’s dish towels as retribution for cheating, or anger over broken promises.  We also wonder if proxy fights aren’t because a party isn’t ready to let go yet.  We get it.  We’ve been there, too.

But at Modern Family Law, it’s our job to interject objectivity into decisions about which conflicts are worth engagement.  One day, you’ll look back and view these decisions with a different lens.  We want you to be glad you hired us, not resentful that your lawyer stoked a pointless conflict.