Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Re: family court lawyer fees

Family court is a notoriously slooooow process. You should expect to spend at least 3-5k and that is probably an underestimate.

There are ways to control your costs.

First ask your attorney about flat fees. Maybe he can charge you a fee for each court appearance rather than per hour. Sometimes he will make money on it but you will at least have a budget. Then maybe he can charge you a flat fee for all the outside work he will do that month. Again no matter how much time he spends he agrees not to charge more than the fee. Trial and Hearing fees can be per diem and you will pay a flat fee for written motions.

While this will not necessarily be the cheapest way to go, it will control costs and be mutually beneficial. In addition it may be a good way encourage a speedier result.

There is a really good book recently published by the American Bar Association called Billing Alternatives to the Billable Hour (or something close) one of the Authors is James Callaghan. It has a number of ideas for helping to set a secure fee that is fair to both the client and the lawyer.

Good luck