Advice on strategies to lower final Attorney bill

bayouguide · 2021-11-18T16:05:43+00:00

Review the bill. Make sure the "paperwork" filing is billed at the support staff/paralegal rate. Not the attorneys bill rate.

47omek · 2021-11-18T20:33:35+00:00

Since attorneys know all about your financials they'll know if you're not in great shape, and if so they'd probably take a 50% lump sum buyout.

In more general terms, a mistake men often make is that from the beginning they're deathly afraid of seeing the inside of a courtroom and they'll let their attorneys engage in endless fee-churning back and forth with opposing counsel, multiple all-day mediations etc in hopes that princess will come to her senses. In truth the best way to get an unreasonable woman to come to her senses is have her walk up the courthouse steps and be in danger of putting her financial and custody future in the hands of a stranger in robes. Get her story nailed down via deposition as soon as possible (so it limits how much she can change it) then get to those courthouse steps as quickly as you can spending as little as possible. Mediation isn't magic, if she's not the kind to agree at the kitchen table the mediation isn't likely to be productive without a looming court date.

DaughterOfBorat · 2021-11-18T15:59:25+00:00

Oof... what processes did you have to go through in order to end up with this bill? Was there a child custody case, how many years did it go on, did it get taken to court more than "the minimum" etc.

(The lawyer is one of many people to know what your financial situation is like... perhaps just by speaking with them as a person might open up their humanity a bit)

Ok-Veterinarian-5984 · 2021-11-18T16:12:13+00:00

Lump sum offers get it done.

oldskoolflavor · 2021-11-18T16:03:26+00:00

Following.

mattehorn33 · 2021-11-18T22:10:39+00:00

Either lump sum or ask for more time to pay off. I got a 0%APR credit card and put my expenses on it so it bought me some time to pay off.

pegleg_legal · 2021-11-19T00:35:37+00:00

Saving this to the end isn't best practices but lawyers are always happy to discuss our bills - if we're not then that's a huge red flag. It's our favorite subject - money.

Ask for a discount.
Negotiate payment terms you can handle.
Review the time entries and challenge anything that doesn't look right to you. If you haven't done this as a habit, well, then you're like most clients but everyone should.
Don't delay or hide from it because we view our invoices as money in the bank and employee bonuses probably incorporate receiving that money by the end of the year.

As with all concerns regarding your lawyer - the DIRECT approach is the best approach. Don't waste our time, don't feel sheepish about confronting us. You're our client and our customer but the power dynamic is admittedly strange in these relationships.

Title	Advice on strategies to lower final Attorney bill
Author	jackryhenson
Upvotes	6
Comments	10
Date	November 18, 2021 3:49 PM UTC (4 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/Divorce_Men
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/Divorce_Men/comments/qwsmg3/advice_on_strategies_to_lower_final_attorney_bill/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/Divorce_Men/advice-on-strategies-to-lower-final-attorney-bill.1083456 https://theredarchive.com/post/1083456

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