EXPLANATION OF BILLING AND FEES (Starting June 1, 2009) 

The following information is subject to change annually to reflect our increased costs and inflation, etc. We have compared our fees with those charged in the area and are confident that we are more than competitive and in fact may be well below those fees charged by others with comparable expertise, education, experience and resources. We have a top of the line, on-line and on-shelf, library at  great monthly expense so that we can conserve on time charges and give you the current law on complex matters.

A.      FIXED FEE SERVICES: There are many services that are typically charged at fixed fee rates so long as the amount of work (standard meetings, phone calls, time on matter), the standard legal complexity of the work, and the legal risks involved are typical for such work. If a fixed fee arrangement goes well beyond that which is typical (such as an inordinate number of phone calls or e-mails, outside the scope of the initial work discussed, etc.) then the amount of work above and beyond that which is standard will be charged at the hourly billing rates. Standard fixed fee services normally include:    

            a.       Formation of Business Entities

b.       Estate Planning Documents (not tax planning)

c.        Initial Estate, Elder Care Law or Tax Planning Consultations

d.       Simple Estate Administration

B.       HOURLY FEE SERVICES: All matters not billed by fixed fee arrangement. (There are no contingency fee arrangements at this firm). Usually on a contemporaneous basis we record our time (1/10 increments) and present daily time sheets. We record actual time spent on a client matter, regardless of what our client requires of us or asks us to do. The client can do a significant amount to minimize hourly charges and we discuss practical tips to do this in our initial consultation.

a.      Jeanne Hall $200 per hour ( a 1.6% increase each year since 2004, well below inflation or CPI) on regular matters up to $300 per hour on complex estate/gift tax planning matters. If the client does not pay within the time period when payment is due (30 days of invoice) the amount per hour for that month shall be adjusted to $25 more per hour and will continue to be that amount until paid in full. (Example: 10 hours billed at $200 on June 30, 2009. Payment not made as of August 1, 2009. Billing amount total goes from $2000 to $2500). This allows us to keep our costs down for clients who pay on time and not increase hourly rates for them because others do not pay on time.   

b.       Legal Assistants $75 -$85 per hour unless otherwise agreed in writing for complex or time-consuming matters.

c.       Research on Lexis Nexis for client $50 per hour (in addition to billable time), with actual costs of certain treatises (normally an additional $15 or more per treatise in addition to the large monthly Lexis Nexis fees-to be charged at actual cost, but some can be as high as $50 actual cost).

C.     EXPENSES: Charged at actual cost and would include the cost of obtaining specific legal treatises, depositions, filing & court fees (unless included in a fixed fee), and other similar direct costs. Costs for printing and copies are $.10 per page, for long distance calls lasting less than 30 minutes $5, for long distance calls lasting longer than 30 minutes, $15, for faxes $.50 per page, for postage $.50 regular US mail, $20 overnight mail, $10 priority mail, and larger amounts for heavier items.  

D.      RETAINER SITUATIONS: The Firm can negotiate with entities to work on a retainer basis which may lower the hourly fees.

E.       PAYMENT OBLIGATIONS OF CLIENTS: Clients will receive a monthly billing and these must be paid within 30 days of the date of the billing or the additional $25 per hour applies and the client has accepted this amount per contract by failure to pay unless a written agreement says otherwise . The Firm cannot finance billing matters as it is not a financial institution and, because we keep our billing rates lower than competitors with comparable resources, education, experience and expertise with regard to our specific services. There is a 20-day period from the date of billing for clients to write to us (so that we can retain our records) if a client has concerns or questions, and we will answer these in writing within 5 business days of receipt. We keep daily time sheets to the 1/10 of the hour so our records are accurate and reflective of actual time.  Hopefully this will resolve any concerns as we are a service-oriented firm, but clients do have an affirmative obligation to let us know if they perceive any problems with an invoice during this time period, as it gets harder and harder to remember details the more time it takes. IT IS THE DUTY OF THE CLIENT TO MAKE SURE THAT HE/SHE/IT UNDERSTANDS THIS BILLING POLICY AND AGREEMENT PRIOR TO RETAINING OR HIRING US FOR OUR SERVICES. WE ARE MORE THAN HAPPY TO CLARIFY ANY QUESTIONS THAT YOU HAVE PRIOR TO SUCH TIME. ALL RATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE TO REFLECT INCREASED COSTS/INFLATION/CPI. WE HAVE TRIED TO KEEP THESE INCREASES TO A MINIMUM AND DO THEM NO MORE THAN ONCE A YEAR.            

Jennifer Salmon is the Office Manager and is in charge of accounting and financial management, so please contact her with any questions or concerns.