bill

What is the name of your state? FL
This is the first time I have had to hire an attorney. There is a retainer and directly after that The contract reads "you will be notified to deposit additional monies in advance of fees and/or costs as needed".

Please tell me if anyone knows if this is normal. We had a substantial credit balance in March (which was first bill) and did not receive the next statement until now, having a balance due that is over double what the retainer was (thousands ). There was no warning. Is this normal? Does the statement written in the contract refer to this and it should not have happened or is this just the way the legal system works?
Thanks in advance for any info/advice anyone has on this.

You should have been asking questions about how this exactly works BEFORE you signed.

The real question is does the billing statement show explanations/descriptions for the services rendered and is it done on an hourly basis or is it just dollar amounts with no descriptions?

There are descriptions for the costs. I did not keep track because I don't know who is doing what. There are three hourly rates depending on who is doing what. I knew I owed money, read this statement in the contract and thought I would hear from them if/when it went over. I did expect, based on this statement that I would be notified ong before oweing almost three times the retainer. The sad thing is we have a ways to go.

What type of case is he working on for you? Are you satisfied with the results he has produced so far?

If you are worried about not being able to afford the remaining bill, you need to discuss this upfront with him now.

paternity/custody/support case. I am satisfied but feel the other party is running our costs up by agreeing to things (even in writing) and changing their mind. This has created much correspondence back and forth. (covered in another post I have.)

A fee agreement is a contract, and a contract is whatever you agree to do.

It is not uncommon to require replenishment of an advance fee deposit or to require that costs be paid as they are incurred.

Unfortunately, legal representation can be expensive. We lawyers ain't cheap, and it is quite possible to rack up a large bill in the space of a week. If you're litigating an issue, it is entirely possible that your balance jumped from a credit status to owing a lot within a few weeks.

I tell my clients up front about the expense of litigation, and I typically require a pretty hefty advance fee deposit in litigation matters. The reason is simple: if the client cannot afford to pay the advance fee deposit, it is highly unlikely that the client will be able to fund the litigation as it moves forward.

Even if the client pays the advance fee deposit, I let the client know where s/he stands on fees every time I'm about to do significant work on the case so the client isn't sandbagged with a large bill. It makes for happier clients.

copies

Are you receiving copies of correspondence and other documents received or exchanged in your case? It is a pretty simple matter for your attorney to print out an extra copy for you of whatever s/he does and to make a photocopy of whatever has been received from the other side. If your attorney is unwillng to do this, then you need to question whether s/he is trustworthy.

Yes, i have received copies. I think this was partly miscommunication and partly my inexperience on how this works. I was told that the more info provided the better "rather have too much", so we provided lots of info usually beginning with something to the effect, not sure if I need to respond to this but just in case....thinking if it was not needed it would be ignored. Other problem is as an example, I would give my comments, including I will never sign this, and asked for advice and it would the comments would be taken and worked into document vice me getting advice on where to go from there.

Had I recieved timely bills I would have figured out right away how this was working which is why I asked about the statement in the contract.

I appreciate all of the response. Thank you very much.