I often get asked “How much will it cost me to get divorced?. The answer is “it depends”. This response is almost always followed by a deep sigh or eye-roll. The truth is it really does depend on the unique facts of each case.
Some factors that can determine the costs are:
- Are there children involved;
- The assets and liabilities involved;
- fault grounds, such as domestic violence or adultery;
- If there is a settlement or a trial;
- If there is a jury trial involved;
- If there are retirement or military benefits; and
- The ease of getting the other party served.
The cost is also dependent on the attorney you select to represent you. An attorney that is relatively new to the practice of law will cost much less than a board certified attorney that has been licensed for a longer period. Most attorneys will charge per hour. The hourly fee is set by each attorney using certain factors such as the difficulty of the case, the experience of the attorney and what other attorneys in the area charge, to name just a few. Most attorneys that charge by the hour will round the time spent on each task in 6 minute or 15 minute increments. Hourly attorneys will generally charge a retainer to get them started and will then bill you monthly for the work they did that month that exceeded the retainer payment.
Billing by the hour can result in surprise bills from your attorney. One month there may not be a lot of work to do on your case so your monthly bill will be fairly low. Then the next month you could get a really large, unexpected bill from your attorney with just a few days to come up with the money. This can add stress to an already stressful situation.
Some attorneys, like the Boswell Law Firm, charges a flat fee for the case. This means that you know up front what your case will cost. This means you ca budget the cost better. This is not to insinuate that they matter will be inexpensive, but that you can plan better for the cost if you know what that cost will be. You are also more likely to stay in contact with your attorney if you are not concerned that a phone call or email is going to cost a small fortune.
A typical hourly rate in Harris County, Texas for a board certified attorney with 15 years is around $400/ hour. If you send a short request for a status update you could pay a minimum of $40 for that email if the response is also very short. If you send one of these emails a month over the average of a year fr a divorce action to go to trial- just on emails you spend $480. That goes up if the attorney rounds to 15 minute increments. That same email now costs $100 with an average cost of $1200 just on 1 email a month. Typically there are mane more emails a month than one.
So when you are interviewing attorneys to help with your legal matter ask how they charge for their services. Boswell Law Firm charges a flat rate for each part of the case that we can discuss with you during our free 10 minute phone call. To schedule your phone call; Call the office at 832-919-6595, visit our website http://www.boswelltexaslaw.com or schedule directly with our attorney by clicking this link: https://calendly.com/boswelltexaslaw/15min
