#16
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I did law for 30ish years. I can say with certainty that no one here can tell you whether 10 hours to prepare for a pretrial hearing/conference is reasonable or not unless they had an understanding of the jurisdiction- not just the state, but the county, and what is normally done at such a proceeding. Its different everywhere. If significant issues involved and actual decisions made, then not suspect. If scheduling and evidence stuff, probably suspect. But again, I wouldn't guess which.
Sounds like a) you live in a place with a very high cost of living, based on those fees or b) you have very significant assets to protect and a hotly contested divorce. Those hourly rates are up there. Are you dealing with a partner level guy at "the" domestic firm in your area? Most county bar associations have a fee dispute committee that will arbitrate these sort of things, but, as you might expect, there is a level of benefit of doubt given to the bar member. And yes, each time you change atty's you're likely going to have some fee duplication due to file review. Like maybe 25% or higher. This thread is a perfect example of why all of this stuff needs to be hashed out well in advance of retaining a professional. |
#17
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Works both ways, I've seen an fair number of men claim/get it. |
#18
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Divorce sucks, I just finalized mine last fall, over 2 years after separation. My ex fought every step of the way, much to her eventual financial detriment. My attorney estimated that she spent $100K+ between attorney and accountant fees. My expenses were far, far less than that.
As others have pointed out, you should carefully manage your attorney's time. This means asking if a paralegal can address an issue/question/task, as well as preparing your communications (usually emails) so that they are organized and documented in a way that allows them to work on your case efficiently. When it comes to phone calls, stay focused on the specific issues that you and they have planned to address and don't be afraid to tell them that you are trying to save money by minimizing their time on certain tasks. Also, regularly ask them what you can do to assist in terms of providing documentation, talking to third parties, etc. I was like a broken record with this issue, something that my attorney and I were able to laugh about. Finally, one of the best things that my attorney did for me was set reasonable expectations for what could be achieved at various stages. This made decision-making much easier overall and reduced some of the emotional burden. If this isn't happening, you may need to push your attorney in this area. Good luck, there is a light at the end of tunnel. |
#19
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In my new career I now deal with attorneys almost daily. I'm working with single person firms, small multi-person firms, and large firms in all areas of the country. I'm a very expensive resource for the attorneys and my observation is that the attorneys who have para-legals make much more effective use of my time which ultimately saves them (and by extension their clients) a lot of money. It also helps me do a better job when I can get records requests filled in a timely manner, and set up calls and meeting efficiently. The practices that are the best at doing that have great paralegals. The ones that are bad at it all share one characteristic: They don't have paralegals. |
#20
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You might or might not be able to dispute the billing. That should be covered in your agreement with your lawyer - read it. Your bilings seem high, but as much for the hourly rate as any hours billed. Around here a $600 divorce lawyer is for the rich folks. Mediation may be your friend, even though you "have reasons". None of which is legal advice, but I do suggest you talk with your attorney about your options. You really should have a detailed, frank and perhaps even brutal conversation about your affairs with your attorney.
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#21
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Did you hire Harvey Specter?
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#22
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In California, attorney fee disputes may be resolved through binding arbitration if the client chooses to do so. It's under Bus Prof Code section 6200 et seq. I am not sure about other states.
I'm having deja vu because I remember a very similar post on this forum a few months ago. |
#23
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Litigation, and presumably contested divorces, can be expensive, and you largely get the quality of representation you pay for. |
#24
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For our Hispanic audience, deberías llamar a Saul
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#25
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no divorce experience
but I did have an issue where we had an attorney, and there was all sorts of dubious billing. I 1) got an invoice, with no detail/explanation of the billing. Later, 2)I'd pay an invoice, only to see it on the next invoice.
so 1) I asked for detailed breakdown off the charges. Obviously, not much I can challenge on "preparation" or "drafting X", but there were charges attached to emails and calls. It was pretty easy to point out there were no such calls/emails at the time/date specified. 2) double-billing was pretty obvious. I challenged 2 invoices, then got the double billing, called them on it, got a final invoice (which again attempted to charge for things already done or implausible since last payment--there had been ZERO activity on the case since the last invoice). I pointed all this out, and said my next letter would be cc'd to BBB, Bar Association, the local news channel consumer protection guy, and the county DA. He replied that my account was paid/up to date and we parted ways. |
#26
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I've seen several of my friends go down paths where they ended up having a knife fight with each other. It destroys so much built up wealth. If she is trying the disability scam etc, you need to be careful, she may be of the mind set which really eats up value in legal fees. I'd try to expedite this as quickly as possible. Good luck
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#27
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Writing to sympathize and to vent a bit.
Good friend went through divorce. Known the couple for.. 20 years? A long time. The wife is the friend. Husband was friendly but I never got a "best friend" kind of feel from him. I've only really heard her side but some of the things seem wacky. For example, she was the bread earner, educational person, and carefully budgeted her money so that they'd have 3 months of living expenses covered when there was no income from her. He worked a lower paying job and there was no way they could make it through the summer without her saving a lot of her salary. Well, he repeatedly emptied the summer money on his own, and bought stuff for himself with it. Not really necessary nor practical - in the bike world it might be paying for three or four full custom frames and matching build kits. That esoteric and that individualized. For some reason his emptying the summer funds doesn't mean anything in the scheme of the divorce (it happened while they were in talks but before he lawyered up). He also maxed out his credit cards before some kind of "inventory" was taken near the end, and then said he was cash poor and had credit card debt (he bought, in bike language, more custom frames and more build kits). She, on the other hand, had been saving to buy a house (because he was forcing the sale of their house, and he was going to live with his parents, and she was going to buy a house), and because she had a lot of money in the bank (many tens of thousands of dollars that she saved after the lawyering up started), she had to give half of it to him. Not only that, she has to give half her retirement to him, up front. I can see how a lot of these laws were supposed to protect, say, a non-working spouse who took care of the house and 3 kids or whatever, but he wasn't doing that PLUS he was spending all their money on his stuff. I think the laws weren't written with this kind of situation in mind, and her lawyer wasn't as slick as his. Otherwise he'd have said to not save money, etc. I thought it was all over but he keeps suing her for this or that. Minor things but she has to go to court. I think it'll be never ending. It's horrible. |
#28
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This thread reminds me of how different things are these days from 40 years ago.
My wife and I decided to split up. Both had good jobs. We agreed the welfare of the kids came first. I asked her to divorce me and I would agree to anything reasonable. We drew up the agreement. Adequate child support, alimony for 3 years. I would pay for kids college, etc. I never hired an attorney; she hired one to put our agreement in court. judge agreed to what we wanted to do. I payed her lawyer $250. Divorce is never a good thing, but we did the best we could. Hopefully this one works out also. So far looks like only the lawyers are winning. |
#29
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I also echo vdoug’s comments. For most families; erasing $100k due to infighting could be a crippling blow. Hard to imagine. I think one of my high school girlfriends took off with half my CD collection. Guess I got off easy
__________________
http://less-than-epic.blogspot.com/ |
#30
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The only folks that make out in a contested divorce with less than 2 m plus in assets is, well, you know |
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