Personal Injury Attorney Fees
It’s Important to Understand What Your Legal Costs Might be Upfront
Imagine yourself in one of these situations:
- Your spouse has served you with a lawsuit asking for a divorce and wants to have custody of your children.
- You are arrested for a crime.
- A real estate transaction you are involved has an involved party who suddenly wants back out.
- You are involved in a serious auto accident and you have been injured.
- Your parent or other relative has passed away and you are in their will but you don’t understand the details.
Every one of the above dilemmas involve legal issues and so you should be concerned about knowing how to protect your legal rights. The minute people are presented with these situations their first thought is “I need legal help” and their second thought is “how much will that help cost me?”
Attorneys are experts in law, and they spent a lot of time and money on their education and proficiency to become experts in their field. Therefore, they deserve to be paid for their services.
Here are some of the ways attorneys charge for their services:
Consultation Fees: This is where you have questions, but aren’t necessarily involved in an immediate legal dispute. Attorneys may charge by the hour for their time and recommend a certain course of action. What this hourly rate is depends.
Contingency Fees: These arrangements are common with personal injury and medical malpractice attorneys. The client usually pays nothing up-front, and the attorney accepts a percentage of the final settlement or judgement. Contingency fees (percentage) can vary according to the type of case.
Flat Fees: This is usually an option if the attorney handles large volumes of a particular kind of case, allowing the attorney to drive the cases through the use of forms and standardized practices. These are usually relatively simple cases like uncontested divorces, evictions, or foreclosures.
Hourly Rate: This is a common way for attorneys to charge for their services and it certainly seems like a reasonable system. A client must understand that staying abreast of time and expenses compiled stay within the limits of their budget is important.
Retainer: This is like a deposit paid toward future fees and costs. The lawyer is paid a set fee, often based on the lawyer’s hourly rate multiplied by a certain number of hours.
Lazarus and Lazarus • Most of Our Clients Pay no Upfront Fees
For the vast majority of cases the Law Firm of Lazarus and Lazarus uses the contingency fee system, which means after a free consultation, the client pays nothing. We represent our clients for a percentage of the final financial recovery.
We believe this is the most equitable way to structure a fee agreement with our clients, many of whom have been devastated financially from an accident and injuries sustained.
If you or someone you know has been injured in any type of accident it’s important not to delay in reaching out for help. Florida law limits the amount of time victims have to seek compensation for hospital bills, property damage, and pain & suffering.
The first step is to call us – 7 days a week – at (954) 356- 0666
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