While every case is different depending on individual circumstances, the following list shows what you may expect to pay our firm for an initial retainer. Except in flat fee arrangements, any unused retainer funds are returned to the client at the end of the case.
Divorce with Children $3,500
Divorce without Children $3,000
Stipulated Petition – Divorce/Parentage where the parties are in agreement on all issues: $2,000
Parentage $2,500
Decree Modification $2,500-3,500
Motion to Enforce (formerly known as an Order to Show Cause) $2,000
Uncontested Step-Parent Adoption: cases where the other biological parent agrees with the adoption or is deceased have a flat-fee retainer of $1,500.
Contested Step-parent Adoption: cases where the other biological parent disagrees with the adoption have an initial retainer of $3,500.
Minor child guardianship $1,000
Adult guardianship $,500-3,500
Our trial retainers start at $4,000-5,000 per day of trial, depending on the number of issues certified in a case.
Informal Trial: $1,500. This is either an evergreen retainer or flat-fee arrangement, depending on the case.
Our office does protective order cases but we are very selective in the ones we take. Our typical protective order retainer is $1,500.
Mediation only, without appearing in case $1,500, no evergreen retainer
*Except in cases of flat-fee arrangements and trial retainers, our office uses an evergreen retainer structure.