newtaxblog.com

Lawyer Retainer Fees

When someone goes to a lawyer and gives money up front, it's called a retainer fee. It's a fee that's given as prepayment so that the attorney will do particular things for the client. Think of it as a down payment on the services the lawyer provides. This money, most often not refundable for any reason, is put in a trust account and the attorney or the law firm can access it when expenses having to do with the legal services the client have requested come up. Then the client has to pay the additional amount if the retainer hasn't provided enough money.

A retainer fees is also used to pay for services when you want to have a lawyer on call to take care of your legal problems upon request or if you need legal counsel on a regular basis. In many cases, this fee is paid on a monthly schedule. To sum it up monthly fees gives you the access to a lawyer whenever you require one immediately.

Before accepting to pay a retainer fee, get the fee, terms and conditions in writing. Court can also monitor the retainer fees in the case of it being too high. However, in the case of Bankruptcy and other statutory fee is also taken care by the court.

There is a service plan called "Pre-Paid Legal" that offers a retainer type service at a very affordable fee. In fact, prices may range from about $16 per month to about $70. In any event, this is far below the typical hourly rate of a good lawyer and members of this legal service plan can receive unlimited phone consultation with a lawyer. You can have contracts reviewed, letters written, and more.

If at the start of the representation the retainer agreement describes the fee as an advance payment against future billings, the money should be placed in a trust account and belongs to the client until the billing transpires. When the fee is earned, the lawyer sends the client a notice and the funds can be withdrawn from the account. If the retainer fee agreement notes the funds are nonrefundable or as earned upon receipt, the funds do not have to be placed in a trust account. It belongs to the lawyer.

You should also be suspicious if the retainer seems very low. It is likely that the lawyer is simply quoting you a very low retainer in order to get your business and has little or no intention of staying within it.

The expenses that are used to calculate a retainer fee are usually based on the circumstances at that time. And it can easily vary if the circumstances change. The lawyer should be able to give you an idea of what to expect. For example, if your case is filed with the court, you must pay court costs to file the case. You may also have to pay the fees for courier and postal services, expert witnesses, copying charges, depositions, long distance telephone charges made by your lawyer on your case, etc.

Be careful agreeing to hire a lawyer whose retainer fee seems very low. It could be a way of getting your business, only to add on the real hidden costs afterwards.

At LawyersonRetainer.com, find information regarding lawyers on retainer, lawyer retainer, and attorney retainer.

Tags: attorney retainer, lawyer retainer, lawyer retainers, lawyers retainer