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It’s one of the first questions you ask when you pay for any services, including those of an attorney.
There are several different attorney fee arrangements that are used in SC. Which one your attorney will use depends not only on your situation but also on what kind of legal help you need.
PAYING FOR A PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY IN SC
In an auto accident case, you will most likely pay a contingency fee, meaning your attorney agrees to be paid a set percentage of any recovery you are awarded. Contingency fees are paid only when your attorney is successful.
If you win, the attorney’s fees are paid from your recovery. If you lose, your attorney won’t get paid, but you may still be responsible for expenses like court costs, expert witness fees, or deposition fees.
Be sure to ask your attorney about these and other potential costs, and get a written fee agreement from your attorney before they start working on your case.
WHY DO AUTO ACCIDENT LAWYERS CHARGE CONTINGENCY FEES?
The most important reason is that it motivates your attorney to recover the highest amount possible for you – the attorney’s fee is directly proportional to the money they recover for you which should make your attorney work harder to get you (and him or her) paid.
Imagine paying a flat fee for a car wreck case – your attorney gets paid the same amount, whether they recover $5 or $5 million, so they have no financial motivation to push for the $5 million for you. On the other hand, if the amount of the attorney’s fee is tied directly to the amount of your recovery, your attorney is more likely to work hard to get maximum compensation for you.
What about cases where there is no financial recovery at the end of a lawsuit?
DIFFERENT FEE ARRANGEMENTS FOR DIFFERENT CASES
Your attorney may use a different payment arrangement for other kinds of cases, like criminal, family law, or corporate cases.
These arrangements could include:
Flat fees: For example, your attorney will usually charge a one-time flat fee for a criminal defense case. A flat fee arrangement can also be used in straightforward, simple cases such as wills or uncontested divorces.
Hourly fees: Your attorney will charge you for the time put into your case. The fee may vary depending on the kind of work so you may pay a different hourly rate for a court appearance versus legal research. You will pay a retainer into your attorney’s trust account that they will then bill against as they work on your case.
MYRTLE BEACH, SC AUTO ACCIDENT LAWYERS
At Axelrod and Associates, we will explain the types of fee arrangements that we use in auto accident cases when we first meet with you – one reason that we work hard on your case is that we know that the more you get paid, the more we get paid as well. We work hard to get maximum compensation for our clients in every car wreck that we handle.
Schedule a free consultation with a Myrtle Beach personal injury lawyer on the Axelrod team today. Call us at 843-353-3449 or fill out our contact form to set up a free initial consultation about your case.
