IS THIS FEE REASONABLE????

Q: A few months ago I went through a divorce after a 30 year marriage. I was the stay-at-home mom and homemaker. At the end, no difficult issues. No child custody, only one court hearing for continuance, no alimony, shared a military pension. My cost from my $150/hr non-board certified attorney was $32,000. He is based in Dallas. I am appalled and am contesting this. I never got an itemized bill until the day of the divorce. May I have opinions from Texas attorneys or others who have gone through this process in Dallas or Denton counties of Texas, please?

A: -This strikes me as the crux of the issue. There must have been extensive negotiations and work leading to the ultimate "uncontested" divorce. I, as I am sure, most lawyers have a differennt fee structure for contested and uncontested cases. I once had a client file a grievance against me because I charged him for contested rates when the case wound up ( two years later) as being uncontested. -Well, without knowing more details it is difficult to tell you whether this bill is outrageous. I am a Texas attorney and I do occasionally do some divorce work. You stated that your attorney was charging $150 an hour and indicated that he was not board certified. I can tell you this from experience in the Houston area....$150 an hour is not out of line for someone doing divorces in Houston. Chances are high that it is not out of line for people doing divorces in Dallas either. What I mean by out of line is whether or not it is consistent with the charges that other lawyers are charging for a divorce. Now I do have some question as to whether $32,000 divided by $150 would add up to a reasonable number of HOURS worked. Questions: 1) Was discovery performed? Did your lawyer draft discovery documents. Did they take depositions? 2) How was your case resolved? Was there a trial, mediation or other settlement conference? 3) Did you call your lawyer a lot? Lawyers doing divorces do usually charge for phone calls and communications. A lawyers stock in trade is time. They do charge for time and chances are high that this is in your fee contract. 4) Did your lawyer get a retainer from you? It is highly unusual for a lawyer to run up a $32,000

tab and then expect you to pay it later. That is a good way to get stiffed on the entire amount. Most divorce lawyers bill monthly. Why didn't yours? Was there an agreement that he would get paid out of the proceeds? Contingency fees are usually illegal and unenforceable in a Texas Divorce. If this is the case you should be discussing it with the State Bar. However, in many instances a lawyer agreed to attempt to collect the fee from the other spouse and then look to payment from you if he does not get an award of attorney fees from the court. Is this your arrangement? This is not illegal.