It is always hard to ascertain, especially ahead of time, exactly how much your family law case – whether divorce or child custody – will ultimately cost. Even though I do this day in and day out, and have for over fourteen years now, it’s hard for even me to help give people the “ballpark” estimates they desperately want, though I began to talk about it in Part One of this three part series. Feel free to start here, but also consider going back to Part One to make sure you have as much information as possible as you consider this incredibly important decision.
I get it! I would want an estimate, too. I hate when I’m searching for something and I can’t find a price or – worse – it says something vague and threatening like “pricing available upon request.” I am not going to request! I want to know if I can afford it AHEAD of time, so I don’t have to do the embarrassing walk of shame to (either literally or digitally) put something back on the shelf.
But… as much as I understand and sympathize, I still can’t do that for family law. I can’t provide a comprehensive quote to someone, no matter how much I want to. There are too many variables that I can’t assess.
So, what do I know?
I know that family lawyers work on retainers and bill hourly in increments of a tenth of an hour as work is completed. The total overall cost is related, generally, to how much time the attorney spends on the case.
In general, the biggest wildcard issues are child custody and spousal support because neither of those two points can be boiled down to cost. If we’re talking about, say, a retirement account or a piece of real estate, there is an amount of money past which it would not make sense to argue.
Because child custody and spousal support defy valuation – and are deeply emotional issues to boot – many couples argue on these points long after the rest of the issues could have been resolved. If anything is going to lead to a case being litigated, it is usually one (or both) of these issues, because most everything else is more easily (and less emotionally) established.
If the case is particularly complex, that can drive up costs, too. Needing a forensic CPA, a business valuation, a doctor or therapist, or other expert can increase costs exponentially, especially if your case goes all the way to trial.
Oh – and trial! Litigating is expensive, period, which is why even the retainer agreements go up dramatically when you start talking about a retainer that would allow the attorney to go to court on your behalf. By that point, it’s less about our timeline, too, and more about what has to happen (and when) to fit in with the court’s timeline. You may have to meet additional requirements, perform certain parts of the discovery process, introduce proffers, attend settlement conferences, and more in order to even set a trial date. The specific requirements vary by court so, yes, even within a limited geographical area (like, hypothetically, Hampton Roads, Virginia, which is where I practice) it can be different. Virginia Beach is not the same as Chesapeake which is not the same thing as Norfolk which is definitely not the same thing as Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg, York County, or – the wild, wild west -the Isle of Wight or Suffolk. And don’t even get me started on the Eastern Shore.
What DON’T I know?
As many things as I do know, there are things that I don’t know about your family law case. Specifically, I don’t know anything about your soon-to-be ex partner or the attorney he’ll hire – if, in fact, he hires anyone at all.
That might not sound like a big deal, but it is.
Some former partners are more high conflict than others. (And, no, for the record, it does not take two to create a high conflict case.)
Was I talking about former partners or attorneys? Ooops. In either case, the same goes. Some family lawyers are more high conflict than others. Oftentimes, in an initial consultation, I have no idea who the attorney on the other side will be. Sometimes, finding out who it is is actually enough to add a couple extra dollar signs in front of the amount that your case will likely cost. I’m sorry, but it’s true.
And then there’s the Guardian ad litem, if one is appointed in your case. Will you have to pay their fee, too? In some cases, yes! So, that’s three different attorneys (yours, his, and the child(ren)’s) charging, and essentially pulling from the same pot (if yours is a divorce case).
I also don’t know your goals or objectives. Depending on what you’re expecting out of the process, it may be more or less difficult to engineer that result.
There are just so many variables and the way they combine to create each unique case means that it is difficult – if not impossible – to estimate costs. Unless things are very, very easy (and, sometimes, even then) it is difficult to estimate costs ahead of time.
The more information you have about who and what is involved in the case as well as the more clarity you have regarding your goals and objectives, the better we can get an idea of costs to help advise you – but you should also at least hold some space for the possibility that things don’t always happen according to a schedule or plan.
For more information or to request a copy of our book about how (and when) to hire an attorney, visit our website at hoflaw.com or come in for a consultation – because we can always give better information one-on-one – by calling us at 757-425-5200. Still want more information? Stay tuned for part 3.