How much will it cost to hire a lawyer for your divorce or custody case? The answer depends on you.
Imagine with me for a moment that you’ve heard about this diner in your town, let’s call it “Janie’s Diner.” You’ve heard good things about “Janie’s Diner,” like that Janie has a lot of experience running her diner, she has an excellent staff and she prepares amazing food with decades-old secret family recipes.
So you decide to check it out, walk in to the diner, and pick up a menu. You see some choices that look good, but you also notice that there are no prices next to the items on the menu. “That’s weird,” you think.
As a waitress scurries by, you catch her attention, ask what your meal will cost and she replies. ..
“Oh, honey, that depends on how long it takes Janie to prepare your meal.”
So you tell her “Well, okay then, I’ll probably order coffee, scrambled eggs, bacon and toast on whole wheat bread. How much will that be?”
And she says, “Oh no, sweetie, you’ve got it all wrong. You can’t choose from the menu, you have to eat all of it. And, by the way, you have to pay a retainer before Janie starts cooking.”
And you’re like, “That’s crazy.” Right?!
And the waitress says, “yeah, I know, but that’s how we do it here.”
You’d love to stay and eat, but not knowing what kind of price tag you’re looking at before you pick up a fork is. . . well. . . unsettling.
What I have described above is the traditional model of representing clients that lawyers have used for decades -- the retainer and hourly fee model.
When you hire a lawyer under this arrangement (which I now call the “dinosaur” model), the lawyer handles everything related to your case for you, including:
- drafting every single document in your case;
- communicating with your spouse or your spouse’s attorney; and
- appearing at every court event with you.
You will pay the lawyer by the hour for the time that she spends on your case based on her hourly rate. In Worcester County, Massachusetts, hourly rates usually range from $300 to $450 per hour.
Let me say that again – you’ll pay your lawyer for the time she spends on your case – not what she accomplishes or produces during that time.
So, the total cost to you in legal fees will be the lawyer’s hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours that she spends on your case (plus some out-of-pocket expenses like filing fees.)
To hire a lawyer under this arrangement, you must first pay the lawyer a retainer.
Think of a retainer as a down payment for the work that the lawyer is going to do. The retainer is not a flat fee and it is not an estimate of the total legal fees for your case. It is simply a down payment – and the first retainer payment you make to your lawyer is your first down payment (yes, there will likely be more than one retainer payment.)
In Worcester County, Massachusetts, where I practice, lawyers usually request an initial retainer of about $8,500 to $10,000.
After you hire the lawyer and pay the initial retainer, you should receive an invoice every month detailing what the lawyer has done, how much time it took and how the retainer is applied to your outstanding balance.
By the way, don’t assume that your lawyer is charging you only when s/he spends a full hour of time on your case. Most lawyers charge in smaller increments, usually one-tenth of an hour.
So, every time a task is performed on your case, every single phone call, email or other task that involves the attorney “touching” your file (literally or metaphorically) will result in another charge of at least ten percent of that lawyer’s hourly rate.
So, if your lawyer’s hourly rate is $400, then every one of those “touches” costs you $40.
If the retainer is exhausted during the case (and it will be), then most lawyers would ask you for an additional retainer. If there is any unused portion of the retainer at the conclusion of her representation, then the lawyer should return that portion to you.
In terms of total fees under the retainer and hourly fee model, you can expect to pay about $15,000 to $20,000 if your divorce resolves at the first or second pretrial conference (which would happen about six to eight months from the initial filing of your case.)
These are per-party estimates (not a combined total.) They're also averages. Some cases cost less, and some cost more depending on the circumstances.
The retainer and hourly-fee model is appropriate for some divorcing parents, but many more need an alternative.
Until recently, those who could not afford the retainer and hourly-fee model were left with only one alternative – to represent themselves and try to figure sh%#*t out as they go. (Bad idea.)
But in recent years, a third option has gained traction in the United States. It is called unbundled legal services – also known as limited assistance representation.
Here’s how unbundled legal services works. If the above story about “Janie’s Diner” is the retainer and hourly-fee model, then unbundled services is the a la carte version -- meaning, you can order whatever you want or need from the diner’s menu and you know the prices before you place your order.
You don’t have to blindly commit to the entire menu, and you do not have to pay by the hour.
For instance, you can hire a lawyer to go to Court with you for a single court appearance and manage the rest of your case on your own. You’d pay a lawyer for that single court appearance, and when you’re done with that court appearance, the lawyer’s work for you is concluded until and unless you order another item from the menu by hiring her again.
Most lawyers who offer unbundled legal services (including this one) will charge a flat fee per service and will tell you in advance what that service will cost.
So right about now, you may be thinking, “Okay, Janie, that’s great, but how will I know what to order and when to order it?”
Great question. The a la carte option and transparent pricing don’t really help you if the menu is written in a language you don’t understand, right?!
So this is the part where I become the chef and the interpreter. (I know. . . stay with me.)
If you hire me to represent you in your divorce or custody case, you will not be hiring me under the retainer and hourly-fee model.
Instead, I work with clients using the a la carte method, and I also make sure that my clients know what to order from the menu and when to order it.
I do this inside of my Pay-As-You-Go Membership.
The PAYG Membership is a platform that I personally custom-created. It contains templates (the same ones that I’ve used in my practice for 20+ years) for every document that you’ll need in your divorce and custody case, along with video content that shows you how to customize the templates to your specific situation.
But I’m not just dumping a bunch of content on clients and walking way.
For a monthly flat fee (that is less than what some lawyers charge for an hour of their time) PAYG Members not only have 24-7 access to the membership platform, but they also get:
- UNLIMITED email access to me, and
- access to weekly, virtual office hours with me, and
- a monthly private video conference with me.
In addition, I personally monitor each client’s progress inside of the platform, so that I can make sure that clients stay on track and take the right action at the right time.
Ditching the dinosaur model of retainers and hourly billing and instead joining the PAYG Membership is – if you ask me – the best way to take advantage of unbundled legal services.
But. . . in order to get the most out of the unbundled arrangement without blowing up your case, you must be willing to do the following.
First, you’ll really need your own computer (laptop or desktop) or easy access to one (and when I say easy, I mean you must be able to access it at least multiple times a week.) If you do not own a computer, you most definitely know someone who can give you that access. For instance, if not a relative or friend, then your local library probably has computers that you can use.
If you don’t believe me, or you’re thinking that it will be too hard to access a computer, or the thought of using a computer makes your skin crawl, then unbundled legal services is not a good option for you and the Pay-As-You-Go Membership is not for you.
Second, you must be willing to devote time each week to focus on your case. I always tell clients that the legal process of a divorce or contested custody case is a tool that you can use to create results for you and your family. It is not a horrible storm that you need to run through or run away from. But you do need to be willing to devote focused time on your case every week, probably two to three hours a week. Everyone – and I mean, everyone -- has two or three hours that they can carve out each week for something as important as their divorce or custody case. If you do not agree with that statement, then -- no judgment, but I'm not the right lawyer for you.
Third, you must have a method for organizing all of the documents and information that you will need for your case. This isn’t difficult, and it is one of the first things that I will show you inside of the PAYG Membership. The first step is to set up a free google account by going to www.accounts.google.com and follow the instructions there to set up your account.
Once you set up your free Google account, you’ll have access to tools like a calendar (Google Calendar), reliable email address (Gmail), a cloud-based drive to store documents (Google Drive), and a free word-processing software Google Docs.)
If you’re not willing to take the 20 minutes or so that it will require to set up your Google account, then unbundled legal services and the PAYG Membership are not for you.
And if you’re reading these words, then that means you hung in with me all the way to the end of this post. This also tells me that you and I would probably make a great team inside of the Pay-As-You-Go Membership.
So let’s talk about it. You can schedule a complimentary conference with me by clicking here.
I hope we can talk soon. You take care until then.
Janie Lanza Vowles -- www.jlvlaw.com
