Miscellaneous Legal Expenses That You Should Know

Other than attorney fees, there are costs that you need to pay. These miscellaneous expenses are called legal fees, they include:

• Secretarial time fee
• Filing fee
• Per page fee for fax, photocopying and word processing
• Delivery charges, postage and courier
• Telephone charges
• Overtime
• Lawyer travel expenses, including airfare, lodging, meals, parking fees and gasoline
• Court fees
• Reported charges for providing written scripts and recording testimony
• Investigator fees
• Consultancy fees
• Jury fees and their mileage fees
• Witness fees and their mileage fees
• Services for locating and managing witnesses

By understanding more about legal costs, you won’t be taken by surprise when someone requires you to pay for something. Those so-called “hidden costs” are not really hidden. You may not take enough time to research and find out about them. It is in your best interest to make a list of possible items that you need to pay. Contact your lawyers and court representatives to ask about the above potential expenses. It would be best to know in advance, how much that you should pay for each item. Unless it’s related to contingency fee, the lawyer may require monthly bill, unless it’s agreed upon by both sides. If you want to pay lawyers, witness, experts or individuals hourly for their service and time, make sure that there’s a limit or a cap. So, when certain limit is reached, the lawyer may not need to work further, unless you give the permission to proceed further.

Because there are many cost elements that you need to pay, you should have a fee payment schedule. It means that you will know what and how much you need to pay next week or next month. Because, it’s the money that you need to pay out of your pocket, you should be careful about it. Other than the retainer fee, the lawyer should provide a list of things that you need to pay. If you think that the total amount is too high, you shouldn’t be afraid to pull out your calculator. People in the court and law firm are human too; and they may make a mistake or two. If you find discrepancy in the calculation, don’t hesitate to bring it up. By understanding all the payment details in advance, you can avoid a situation where you are not to pay the bill. If you run out of money and need to borrow more to pay for legal proceeding, then you are not in a good financial situation.

If your financial condition doesn’t allow for the legal proceeding to continue, it’s best to inform the lawyer and court representatives to postpone works, until you can allocate more money. In fact, lawyers are entitled to stop working for you until you can pay for the legal proceeding. If you continue to accumulate legal debts, lawyers could actually get a lien on your assets, including your home. You can prevent this from happening by not accumulating legal debts in the first place.