PRICING

How much does a divorce cost? 

At Southern Utah Divorce Law, we’re not afraid of transparency and commitment to a set price. When I look to purchase a service (or product, software, etc.), once I’ve established that the service does what I need help with, I immediately look for the price. If a company can’t tell me what the price is, I often move on. Either they aren’t confident enough to set a price, or they’re afraid to show the price. Either way, I move on.

Going through a divorce can already be scary and difficult. Hiring an attorney can be expensive and scary. How much is a divorce going to cost? If the attorney does this every day, why can’t she tell me how much it will cost? 

At Southern Utah Divorce Law, we set fixed fees (aka flat fees) per stage of the case so that our clients know exactly what the cost is going to be per portion of the case. Here are price ranges for some common case fees. The fees are all-inclusive of communication with the attorney and paralegal, communications between the attorney and the court, the attorney and the opposing counsel, etc. during that stage of the case. 

These are some of the main fees. If a case settles in any stage, then no further fees are necessary and preparation of all final orders and documents is included in any stage. 

There are other potential fees (deposition fees, written discovery fees, etc.) that are rare but do occur from time to time. All fees are set forth in an Attorney Client Agreement and will be set at the consultation after learning more about your particular situation and issues and creating a plan of action. 

How do most divorce lawyers charge?

Most divorce attorneys charge an initial retainer, then bill hourly against that retainer, and send out monthly invoices with charges for every phone call, every email, every text message, every call with the court or with the opposing attorney, every minute spent drafting paperwork or strategizing the case. Most divorce attorneys in Southern Utah charge between $200 and $300 per hour. 

Most divorce lawyers bill by the tenth of an hour with a minimum charge of 2/10 or more. So you send that email and need a simple response? Took the lawyer 5 minutes and they bill you for “.2.” Instead of the 5 minutes at $250/hr being $20.83, it becomes .2 of $250 = $50.00, which ends up making the billing rate $50 divided by 5 mins = $10/min or $600 per hour.

But what about something that takes longer? If you ask a divorce attorney how much mediation will cost, the answer will generally be “it depends on how long it takes. Mediation can take anywhere from 5 or 6 hours up to 12 or more hours.” Every divorce lawyer has a story about a mediation going until late at night, or even the early morning hours. So it’s a question mark as to how much it will cost. And if the client has enough money only for a certain number of hours but an agreement is not quite reached yet? Sorry, the time runs out and mediation ends. But what usually isn’t explained is that in addition to the actual day of mediation, there is a pre-mediation appointment between you and the attorney, and there is preparation time, review of finances and disclosures and documents and text messages and other evidence ahead of mediation that all take time. And then after mediation, even with an agreement reached, they don’t tell you about the additional time and costs to prepare the Findings of Fact/Conclusions of Law, Decree of Divorce, and a few other court-required affidavits and forms needed to finalize the divorce. Oh, and those require sending the documents to the opposing attorney to review and discuss any potential changes. And then the emails and phone calls to the client to inform of the status and discuss the agreement and the ultimate final orders. And then don’t forget the Notice of Entry of Order and Notice of Withdrawal needed after the Decree is signed. 

That’s one of the reasons why we love using fixed fees. All of that extra, hidden time before and after an event is all included. Mediation ends up taking 12 hours? You’ve already paid the fixed fee. Pre-mediation appointment? Additional evidence to review? Preparation of final documents? Follow-up questions? All included in the fixed fee for mediation. You shouldn’t be afraid to call or email your attorney because of worry about that next invoice.

Another problem with charging by the minute: Charging by the minute leaves clients wondering to themselves How much will this phone call cost? Can I afford to email this simple question? Is he charging me while we chat about the recent election or last night's football game? Is my divorce taking a long time because it’s just part of the process or does my attorney need to notch a few extra billable hours to meet the firm’s quota and I’m the unlucky client to earn him his bonus?

I will say, most divorce lawyers I know are honest in their billings and genuinely want to help their clients. Most are so busy that they wouldn’t even think about spending unneeded extra time on a case just to bill a few more hours. But some do. 

One more benefit to fixed fees: You can make an informed decision on whether a particular item or action would make financial sense. Instead of not being sure what a Motion for Temporary Orders will cost, with fixed fees you’ll know what that cost is and you’ll know if it makes financial sense to take that step or not.

So if you’d like to have some transparency in pricing and know what it's going to cost, set up a consultation with Justin Caplin by calling 435-674-6800 or by scheduling online.