ATTORNEY FEES: FLAT FEES, CONTINGENT FEES, HOURLY FEES

Flat fee charges at Brown Family Law Group, PLC are generally for routine matters such as wills, deeds, corporation and limited liability company formation, powers of attorney and living wills.

If the hourly basis is used, a deposit is often requested at the outset to retain or lock in the attorney's services. This is how family law cases - divorces, child support, custody, contempt. paternity actions - are mostly handled. The amount of the deposit will vary depending on the size of the claim, the difficulty of the legal questions involved and the amount of work expected to be involved in the case. The attorney will bill (on an hourly basis) the time expended on behalf of the client against the deposit, and if the entire deposit has been expended, the client is obligated to pay for all future work done on the client's behalf until completion of the case.

Contingent fees are used in the representation of injured parties in personal injury actions and some cases, child support arrearage collection matters. A contingent fee is exactly what its name implies. The attorney's fee is an agreed upon percentage of the recovery contingent on the success of the client's claim. If the client's case is not successful, the attorney does not get paid. Thus, the attorney will presumably "go the extra mile" to obtain not only just compensation for the client, but also payment for his or her time and efforts.

Typically, the amount of the contingent fee to the attorney will range from one third to 40 percent, exclusive of out-of-pocket costs and expenses, which are the responsibility of the client. Examples of costs and expenses include court filing fees, court reporter expenses, duplication costs, witness fees and process service charges. (These costs and expenses, however, are often recoverable to the winning party as part of the judgment).

Getting your fees paid by the other party: While the general rule is that each party must pay his their own attorney's fees in a lawsuit, the law provides many exceptions entitling the prevailing party to have a reasonable amount of attorney's fees paid by the opposing party. Examples include contract actions; game playing or hiding assets; unjustified claims; claims brought solely for delay or harassment; unreasonable delay or expanding of proceedings; and abusing the discovery process. While we vigorously pursue an award of attorney fees for our clients when available, it must be clearly understood that this is always discretionary with the Court and cannot ever be guaranteed.