How much can I expect family law litigation to cost me?

The term "litigation" is used simply to differentiate the traditional divorce process or other family law action from other avenues such as mediation or collaborative divorce. Litigation refers to the ability to access the court for orders and relief when necessary.

Right now, in Orange County, California, the filing fee to file a petition with the family court is $350.00. The respondent must also pay $350.00 to file their response. An exception to this would be if a litigant can qualify for a fee waiver. Family law fees are designated by the County and are usually adjusted every year or two. The goal of the state of California is to create uniformity from County to County as to filing fees and this is in process. These fees are paid to the Clerk of the Court. There are other fees that the court charges as well. For instance, a motion costs $40.00, an ex parte motion costs $80.00. Each County has a website that will list the most current fee schedule. In Orange County, the website is www.OCCourts.org. These court fees are in addition to attorney fees.

My typical retainer for family law matters is $2,500 which must be paid up front along with signing my retainer agreement. I will sometimes accept alternate payment arrangements for this retainer but that is only on limited and specific situations. My office has the ability to accept credit cards to ease this burden on potential clients. I charge $250.00 per hour. It is my goal to make every effort to keep my hourly rate at $250.00 so that my services are affordable to a broader base of clientele. There are plenty of family law attorneys charging $350 per hour or more in Orange County. Whether their skill level justifies that hourly rate, is a case-by-case study, but they typically pass off their high office overhead to the client in a higher hourly rate. The $2,500 retainer should usually cover most post-judgment modifications absent having a litigious party or counsel on the opposing side. A divorce in Orange County is not so easy to pinpoint. My most amicable divorces cost about $3,000. I have processed divorces that end up costing $50,000 or more (just for one party!). Then of course there are the high asset or celebrity cases that cost over $100,000 per person, but those clients go to the $600/hr lawyers. I would say that most stay around the $10,000 range. The determining factors of how much a divorce will cost someone tend to be 1) whether the parties can set their emotions aside and be reasonable in resolving differences, 2) whether the opposing party hires an attorney that acts in their client's best interest or whether that attorney is one that just wants to run up their billable hours, and 3) whether experts are going to be needed during the process to value a business, conduct tracings or custody evaluations, etc. Many experts charge more for their services than the attorneys but if their services are needed then that would not be an area to cut back.

Although I used to make it a practice to take on several pro bono cases each year, I am not doing so currently due to the state of the economy which has impacted most of us. If you have a need for family law services but need an adjustment to the retainer or payment plan, I'd be happy to discuss it with you and see whether I can accommodate you. If I cannot accommodate you then I can certainly refer you to someone who may be able to.