Attorney Fees

[lafntiger]

What is the name of your state? California

My wife and I got a divorce. I tried to complete it on my own. I did not. It became contested and she hired an attorney. I had filed 98% of the lengthy forms. Her attorney made 4 court appearnces and filled out 2 income and expense reports as well as a response. My wife advised she only spoke to her an hour in total and most of it was on the phone. The attorney also completed a judgement and filed it in the court. All of the court appearences wxcept one were less than 30 minutes in totality, they were continued at calender call.
Now that we are divorce, my ex and I are gettting along. She advised that her legal bills came to over 10K. I asked her what she was charged for, There are a lot of non descript charges and she was charged for multiple hours for filling out an income and expense report which I know takes about 15-20 minutes for a layman. These fees seem way out of line.
Any thoughts on how much an appearence should cost?
How much do attorneys charge for filling out simple forms?

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

What is the name of your state? California

My wife and I got a divorce. I tried to complete it on my own. I did not. It became contested and she hired an attorney. I had filed 98% of the lengthy forms. Her attorney made 4 court appearnces and filled out 2 income and expense reports as well as a response. My wife advised she only spoke to her an hour in total and most of it was on the phone. The attorney also completed a judgement and filed it in the court. All of the court appearences wxcept one were less than 30 minutes in totality, they were continued at calender call.
Now that we are divorce, my ex and I are gettting along. She advised that her legal bills came to over 10K. I asked her what she was charged for, There are a lot of non descript charges and she was charged for multiple hours for filling out an income and expense report which I know takes about 15-20 minutes for a layman. These fees seem way out of line.
Any thoughts on how much an appearence should cost?
How much do attorneys charge for filling out simple forms?

My response:

Did you realize that the attorney's time is charged not merely for the actual time spent in court? The time is charged from office to court, the court appearance itself, and the travel time back to the office.

How much was her hourly fee?

It may be "simple" for you, but an attorney must marshall all of the documentation that it takes to put together the Income and Expense Declaration. You may know your life, but your attorney must review the documents of your life.

There are so many preparation items that go on in the background, you have no idea. Think of a play. When you watch, do you think everyone just gathers on the stage and just "does their thing"? Hell no! There's preparation that goes on that makes everything you see on "stage" look very simple.

So, please, unless you've got some hard and fast evidence that she didn't earn every penny, and give me SPECIFICS, not merely your conjecture, then pay the tab!

IAAL

 

[julia805]

Two tons of people I know have th esame complaint. There should be a per deim rate or an itemized bill, don't you think. It's not like we are talking about a couple of dollars. No, it's more like a hospital bill in size and strange things to be billed for. My mother was charge $150 an hour, 1 hour minimum. So, one 5 minute phone call cost $150.... and God forbid she didn't have the information that was then being requested. Oh yes, she would have to call back and pay another $150. Lawyers are in business to make money... and they do!

How much does it cost someone for their Lawyer to drive back to the office? Just curious.