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Definition Billable Hours - a lawyer’s professional time in a legal matter, excluding administrative time, sometimes graduated to tenth’s of an hour.

Application in Divorce When one hires a lawyer to represent him or her in a divorce, it is typically instituted with a contractual agreement which declares a retainer fee. A retainer fee is an amount of money paid to the lawyer to retain his or her services. Once the payment is received, the lawyer will be compensated from the retainer amount for each billable hour he or she spends the case. Most lawyers have a flat fee for a billable hour ($100 -$300/hours), which should be stated in the contractual agreement.

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Why is the development of a budget important during the divorce process?

The development of a budget during the divorce process is imperative for the divorcing individual. The budget is a road map that determines how much of the monthly budget is in fixed expenses, such as rent or mortgage, car payment, taxes and insurance. The flexible portion that can be cut back usually deals with food, clothing and entertainment. Most of the time, budgets have to be cut back because the same amount of income that used to support one household is now supporting two households.

Contributed on 3/8/2008 by: Financial Solutions for DivorceLouisville, KY[Total Submissions: 1]

Category: Financial Planning (Applicable in All States)

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Helpful Tips & Facts

How You are Being Billed
Your lawyer is your teammate in your divorce, so in order to start off on the right foot and build a good relationship, you must be on the same page as to how you are going to be billed. Chances are you are going to be billed on an hourly basis, along with miscellaneous fees (like court filing, faxes, copies etc.). You want to make sure what defines a billable hour and what the minimal billing increment will be. For example, will you be billed 15 minutes for a one-minute phone call?

Contributed on 5/17/2007 by: DivorceDex.com Staff
Category: Attorney-Client Relationship (Applicable in All States)
Stockpile Your Questions
Try to be as organized as possible before contacting or meeting with your divorce lawyer. This means gathering several questions and asking them all at one meeting. Do not call your lawyer back several times in one hour as new ideas pop into your head. This will not only disrupt your lawyer, but it will also drive your legal fees through the roof.

Contributed on 5/17/2007 by: DivorceDex.com Staff
Category: Attorney-Client Relationship (Applicable in All States)
Restrain Your Lawyer
Always remember that the lawyer you hire is your employee. Keep him on a tight leash. Marriage and family law are one area where restraint is the better part of virtue, and a top dollar settlement can be staggeringly expensive emotionally when angry and bitter spouses have to deal with each other about the children. And remember, the bills for all this are graduated in small fractions of an hour.

Contributed on 5/17/2007 by: DivorceDex.com Staff
Category: Attorney-Client Relationship (Applicable in All States)

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