So you’re about to have your first experience in the court system.
You’ve never even had a traffic ticket, so this is all foreign to you.
I mean, sure you have that one friend or family member that went to law school, but they practice something else. You’ve never even had to consult with an attorney before, so how does this all work?
First, you’ll have to hire an attorney.
You can research attorneys in a variety of different ways: from calling the Florida Bar Referral number to picking someone off of a Google search.
Once you’ve hired someone, it is important to understand how you’re paying for all of this.
Like most people embarking into the world of a family law case, you are coming out of pocket with this and it can be costly depending which route your case takes.
The world of family law is not like what you often hear on the radio, when the attorney says, “you don’t owe us anything, unless we win for you…”
Tips About Retainer Fees and Family Law
In family law, the retainer is collected first and the attorney bills against same in increments of 1/10 of the hour.
Generally, to get started…
- Your attorney will request an initial retainer amount.
- You will also be required to furnish a trust account deposit for costs. That is, your cost deposit will be used for things other than attorney/paralegal time (i.e., things like court reporters, transcripts, etc.)
- Once you pay your initial retainer, it’s not over.
- That first payment should get you through to a certain point in an average case. Be sure to discuss how much your particular matter could cost in best and worst case scenarios.
- A replenishment is the amount you need to pay back into your account once your account becomes depleted. Most cases require more than just the initial retainer to get you through to a final judgment, so be prepared to receive correspondence regarding same.
- Again, if you don’t anticipate being able to replenish your retainer later on through the process, it is best to discuss this honestly so your attorney can formulate a proper strategy to best employ your “litigation warchest” to achieve your goals.
Tips On How To Stretch Your Retainer
- First, know the roles of your legal team.
- A paralegal is a great resource to use for a lot of the basic, administrative type, questions. If you need help organizing your documents and corresponding regarding what’s upcoming, utilize this person, as they tend to bill at a significantly lower amount per hour than the attorney does.
- However, be careful here as the paralegal cannot give you legal advice.
- If you have a substantive question/concern regarding your case, and you need advice on what to do, then you need to set a time to talk to your lawyer. The best thing to do in that situation, is if it’s not an urgent question/concern, consolidate that question with other questions/concerns you may have and set a time to go over all of them at once.
- Things like phone calls, emails, receipt & review of documents, etc. are all billed to you. Therefore, the more organized you can be, the more efficient your lawyer can be, and thus the farther your retainer will go.
If you, or someone you know, is taking the step towards family law litigation, contact Men’s Rights Law Firm or call us at 239-829-0166 for a consultation to discuss our reasonable fee structure and how best to achieve your litigation goals.
