Alabama Family Law Blog

This is a question you should ask your lawyer at the initial consultation. If you are working for a lawyer that charges fixed fees like our firm does (also known as flat fees), then they can tell you exactly what the fee will be. But, even if you are working with a lawyer that charges by the hour they should be able to give you the amount of their hourly rate, the amount of the retainer and a reasonable estimate of the total fees that will be incurred. If they can't or won't then go somewhere else.

In fact, I would not hire a lawyer that is not willing to represent you in a divorce on a fixed fee. I have a strong opinion about fixed fees vs. hourly billing. I am currently putting an article together that will go into this in much more detail, but I will speak very briefly to the issue here.

Why would you hire someone to handle your divorce case that can't quote you a specific, total fee? Many lawyers will say they can't quote a flat fee on a divorce because there are too many variables to accurately estimate a fair fee. That is nonsense. There are many variables involved in building a house, but when you contract to build one, there is a set price established on the front end and agreed to by both parties. If there is unforeseen work needed, a change order is prepared. Simple, effective, fair.

The bottom line is that hourly billing (coupled with the high pressure put on lawyers to bill more hours) places an incentive on a lawyer to engage in protracted litigation. That is not in the client's best interests (particularly in the emotional turmoil of a divorce). Additionally, the client must feel like they are writing a blank check to the lawyer (because they are). Not to mention the fact that with hourly billing you are charged (usually in 6-15 minute increments depending on the lawyer) for every phone call, every e-mail, every meeting, etc. Is that any way to encourage open communication (which is absolutely necessary for effective representation)? Of course not.

I guess you get the point. My advice is not to hire a lawyer that is not willing to work on a fixed fee basis. I realize that is a controversial statement. It is one with which many of my fellow lawyers would vigorously disagree. But, I have been working on a fixed fee basis for over 10 years. I have been doing it exclusivley for about 3 years. My clients love it because it takes away an unknown factor, it allows open, regular communication, and they never recieve a $150 bill for a 30 minute phone call. I love it because I can focus less on tracking my time and more on resolving my clients problems (not to mention there are no such things as accounts receivable in my office).

I couldn't agree more. Attorneys need to better align their interests with their client's interests.

Great advice. Only, what happens and what do you do if you have alreay given a $2500 retainer to an attorney and then realize you may not have made a good choice in who you hired?

Tracey,

It depends on your fee agreement and what work your lawyer has done to date. You are entitled to change lawyers at anytime (just make sure you don't do so without plenty of time for a new lawyer to get up to speed on the case before any upcoming trials or hearings). But, your current lawyer is entitled to be paid for the work done to date. If you agreed to pay an hourly rate, then your lawyer should return any unearned retainer to you. I would hope if you are being charged hourly that your lawyer is giving you periodic statements showing what work they have done and what you have remaining in their trust account. If they aren't, they should be.

Almost 3 years ago, I hired an attorney in order to get a divorce. I was only married for about 10 months before I moved out of my husband's parents' home. We do have a child together, who was 6months old at that time. Besides our kid, there was no property, no bank accounts, no assets, no money---NOTHING to divide between my husband and I.

The initial retainer fee for my attorney was $3500.00, which I paid in full. Since then, I have paid my attorney almost $5100.00, yet I am still not divorced!! ?!?!?

We went to court twice way back when, and a court order was issued (w/ child support, alimony, visitation rights, etc.). I have full physical custody of my daughter, and 50% legal custody, even though my husband has been 100% UNinvolved or interested in his child's life. The DA's office has never received a penny from him, so now his debt from child support/alimony/interest exceeds $70,000.

Am I crazy, or does this sound a little odd? What should I do?

Until a few days ago, I had not been in contact w/ my lawyer for almost 1 year. The thought of my divorce dragging on stagnant forever, was far less painful than the bill I would get if I dared ask my attorney any questions.

However, about 2 weeks ago I got a bill from my attorney, and this spurred me to call my attorney. I left her a message stating furiously that I wished to end services & to send me all my paperwork & the final bill.

Within 2 days, my attorney left me an apologetic message, stating that she’d waive the current bill (approx. $300) and that I didn’t owe her anything. She also said that since my husband never responded to them, that we would probably want to enter a plea for �"default”. Now, I may be stupid when it comes to legal terminology, but I’m positive that many others would agree w/ me in wanting to know why my attorney didn’t just do this (proceed to default) way back when?? Is she stupid? – no, b/c she got paid BIG TIME. Am I a sucker?? –definitely!!

Please help me to bring some closure to all of this, so that I may finalize my divorce and begin to live my life forward. My daughter is almost 4years old now, and I am penny-less. Any suggestions and/or feedback will be appreciated tremendously. Thanks for taking the time to read all of this.

I have a relative who hired an attorney over two years ago to file a divorce. He asked for a retainer of 15,000 and said the divorce would take a year. The case had a trial date of one year. He did most of the pre trial and most of the research was done by the client. The attorney did have to pull some records for the case. However on the trial date he said he needed more time and was going to request a continuance. He made a mistake and the case was dismissed and he said we had to refile and start all over. I asked him about the cost and he said that he would take care of the refile. After one year the week before the court hearing he call and asked for insight on how to tackle the case. I thought he was not prepared and sould be telling the client. At the day of trial he said if we go to trial there would be a cost. The case was settled. We have not recieved payment but the attorney set a bill for 30,000 saying he did a good job and spend alot of time. What can we do?

Dave,

This is not a divorce law question, it is a contracts question. I would refer you to the fee agreement between the lawyer and the client. It should specifically address how the fee would be determined.