Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
When I initially hired my attorney we discussed that $3,000 would get me through the end if my ex did not contest. My ex did not hire an attorney nor did he show up to court. We did file temporary orders which I know added to the expense. As of today my attorney has charged me $10,800 dollars. They send me itemized statements but how do I dispute them, I have no idea how long it takes them to prepare documents. According to my last bill it took them 16 hours to prepare for court. I find that hard to believe. How can I figure out if the fees are reasonable and not trumped up? Property settlement was pretty simply, we did have to do a QUADRO. Child support was easily set. There was nothing else to discuss.
1 Answer from Attorneys
The Houston Bar Association has a committee on fee disputes. This sound like a case for this.
Of course, now that you have an itemized bill it should reflect what he did and how long it took. If the entire bill is not itemized, then ask for an itemized bill. Then ask why you were quoted $3,000 -- now the bill is $10,800. Did something unusual happen? Did you call or text or email frequently - attorneys can charge for their time to answer emails and texts. There are QDRO companies that charge approx. $500 to type a QDRO. Submitting the QDRO to his company would take 1-2 hours. Final Paperwork might be 4-5 hours -- not normally 16 to prepare paperwork. Something does not add up. Carefully read the bill and if you don't understand it, then have someone explain it to you. You should have been looking at your monthly invoices.
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