Initial Retainer Fees 

Family – Related: 75% of our family related clients do not spend more than $5000 in attorney’s fees. We initially estimate that all family related cases will cost $3000-$5000.

Criminal Defense: see our criminal page for flat fee for each level of crime. All fees include everything through trial – communication, trial strategy, etc. see more information here: https://lionlegalservices.com/criminal-defense/  

Wills/Trusts/Estate/Medicaid Planning: We initially estimate that all estate planning matters will range from $1000-$3500. Trusts start at $3500. see more information here: https://lionlegalservices.com/estate-planning/

Civil/business/real estate litigation: initial retainer of $5000.

Civil/business/real estate transactions: initial retainer of $3000. 

Administrative Agency Matters: initial retainer of $3000.  

Probate: if a small estate, initial retainer is $2000. If the estate is more than $100,000, then our initial retainer fees start at $3000. If contesting a probate, initial retainer starts at $5000. 

Additional Retainer Fees 

Lion Legal is a full-service law firm, experienced in handling contested court matters. Most cases resolve early, so we only charge for services as they are needed. We will estimate/predict additional time and attorney’s fees at each stage of the case see our Billing Philosophy page for more information. 

Other Considerations:

Travel: We charge for travel time that exceeds one hour round trip, at our normal hourly rates. In other words the first hour of case-related travel is not charged to the client at all. Travel time is calculated from our NLR offices. Travel fees do not apply to criminal defense matters.   

Emergency Contact: Client-initiated emergency contact of any means outside normal business hours will be charged double our hourly rates. Client-initiated emergency contact during our normal business hours, for the purpose of circumventing our 2 day response time policy, when the matter is not in fact an emergency, is billed at double our hourly rates.  

Minimum Monthly Fee: We charge a minimum monthly fee of $500.00 for cases open in our office. This fee is assessed to compensate the firm for keeping the file open, even though no billable work or billable work less than $500.00 is occurring in your matter that month. LL has strict case limits and keeping your case open in our office prevents us from taking another case; we always must be ready to resolve or address any issues in any open matter in our office from emergency hearings to custody issues and our minimum earned fee is $500 monthly for our liability and attention to your open matter in our office. This fee does not apply to criminal defense matters.