During an initial consultation with a family law attorney, the client should be sure to ask specific questions regarding the cost and length of time that will be involved in their Orlando divorce. The expenses of a dissolution of marriage will have different components that may include fees, costs and a retainer.
Your attorney may require an initial amount of money to begin work on your dissolution of marriage case. This is called a retainer. The retainer will be used to cover the fees and costs associated with your divorce.
An attorney will charge fees for the legal services they perform. These fees will either be hourly or fixed. A Florida divorce attorney cannot bill on a contingency basis. That is, the fees cannot be based on a percentage of the property or assets recovered in the divorce.
There will also be costs charged for the divorce. These are expenses related to the case that your attorney will pay to other parties. Some of the costs that may be incurred in dissolution of marriage cases are filing fees, process servers, court reporters, and photocopy fees.
The price of a divorce or dissolution of marriage will vary greatly between clients. If the parties can resolve most or all of the issues with a Marital Settlement Agreement, the charges will generally be lower and more easily predictable. This will not be the case when the matter is contested. Since legal fees are partly determined by services rendered, it is not usually possible to determine in advance the total fee for a case that is contested. The more information that you can provide to your attorney during your initial consultation, the better the attorney will be able to advise you of the possible costs.
If you have a pending divorce action and would like to schedule an initial consultation with Attorney Luther, please email us or call our office at (407) 835-9900.