Affordable Legal Fees and Options
Mary Ann Hess offers a measure of cost
certainty that can ease some of the financial and emotional stress
of using an attorney and incurring legal fees.
While working to change a
family dynamic – divorce, break up, trying to co-parent, beginning a
new relationship – the uncertainty over the cost of your relationship with
your attorney can be especially unsettling. To help ease some of that
stress, Mary Ann Hess generally offers the following fee structure:
Initial Consultations
Mary Ann will meet
with you for up to one hour, to generally discuss your family law
questions, for a discounted fee of $150.
In
the initial consultation, Mary Ann will discuss with you what additional
services she may be able to assist you with. If additional time is
requested, that time will be billed at $300 per hour. Consultation
fees are paid at the time of the consultation.
It is important to realize that an initial
consultation will provide you with information about Arizona law and
options that may be available to you. An initial consultation is not
a detailed examination of your particular case following by legal
recommendations, as before making any legal
recommendations for a client, a lawyer needs a significant amount of
information to evaluate the options available.
Hourly Billings
Pay as You Go. Mary Ann offers a “pay as you go”
approach to consulting and coaching services
at the rate of $300 per hour. With this option, you can schedule
a meeting, prepare your list of questions, pay by credit card prior to the meeting, and
have a productive meeting with Mary
Ann Hess.
Ongoing Representation. When you retain Mary Ann to represent
you in an ongoing issue, you pay a
deposit that is held in the law firm’s State Bar-mandated trust account.
Each month, you will receive a detailed billing statement
showing how your deposited funds were used. The amount of the
deposit will depend on your specific legal needs and the services
you require.
Flat Fees
A “flat fee” is what you will pay for
a designated service. The fee is agreed upon, as well as the scope
of the work, at the time you retain Mary Ann.
Document Preparation Services. You and
your spouse may have already reached agreements on all issues. If
you simply need help
in documenting your agreements, Mary Ann will help you with the
documentation packages at the following rates:
-
Initial Petition Packet (paternity, legal
separation, dissolution): $600
-
Response packet (paternity, legal separation,
dissolution): $500
-
Consent Decree Packet (no minor children):
$2,500
-
Consent Decree Packet (with minor children):
$3,500
-
Premarital Agreement: $3,500
Mediation services are offered
on both a pay-as-you-go option and a flat rate option. Pay-as-you-go requires a $1,000 initial payment for five hours of mediation
services – a discount from Mary Ann’s usual hourly mediation rate.
Additional time is paid for prior to the services being performed and is
charged at $250 per hour.
Parenting Coordinator Services Mary Ann discounts her hourly billing rate when she offers Parenting
Coordinator (or “PC”) services.
Currently Mary Ann charges $200 per hour for non-emergency PC work
and requires an $800 deposit. Each parent is also required to keep
$200 on deposit so that PC issues can be addressed without delay. Emergency PC work
is provided at $275 per hour. The judge will decide how the deposit
is paid between the parents. |
