How many Atlanta auto accident lawyers have commercials saying no upfront attorney fees? Knows people have seen these commercials and none of these advertisements explain what that means. Now, for most people this is pretty common sense. You don’t pay a fee up front. But that goes against what most people see happen on TV shows or movies when it comes to working with an attorney.
The widespread misconception is that hiring Atlanta auto accident lawyers is extremely expensive, they demand that you pay fees right away, and their services could cost you thousands of dollars. That is truly not the situation for most accident attorneys. Whether it is a car accident or personal injury accident such as a dog bite, typically accident-related attorneys will work on a contingency fee.
What are Up-Front Fees?
Typically, when people refer to up-front fees they’re referring specifically to consultation fees. It is possible that accident attorneys, specifically Atlanta auto accident lawyers and personal injury attorneys, will use consultation fees in addition to their contingency fees. A consultation fee happens because this attorney may spend a few hours with you going through the evidence of your case and determining the potential for the case. However, the struggle is that sometimes these consultations only take 20 or 30 minutes. So why is someone with a 3-hour long meeting getting charged the same rate as someone with a 20-minute meeting?
Upfront fees are waning and becoming less popular, especially among accident attorneys that work on a contingency basis. These consultation meetings also give those attorneys the opportunity to decide whether the case is worth taking. Many attorneys are reviewing these consultations as a win-win situation. If they don’t take the case, then they’ve saved themselves time on a case that’s not worth the effort. If they do take the case, then they put in work towards something that they believe they can win.
What are Contingency Fees?
Contingency fees are fairly typical for Atlanta auto accident lawyers. A contingency fee serves to set a cap on how much of an award for compensation in attorney can take. Most attorneys off for a 1/3, or 33% contingency fee. In the event that someone receives $10,000 as a compensation award then the attorney would only receive $3,300 for their services.
These fees can change if you go to court, and it is usually because of high court fees. Court fees in Georgia for civil filing start at about $400 and only go up from there. Then there are fees for filing documents, searching records, submitting an audio recording, and much more. These fees rack up quickly. but they’re not the only issue to deal with when you take the case to court rather than work to settle it through negotiations. In addition to court fees, the attorney has to put in substantially more time, and to compensate for that time the contingency fee percentage usually goes up.
Paying Attorney Fees After a Crash Claim
Working with an injury or accident attorney, you should not have to pay anything upfront unless it is for a consultation. Then the contingency fees should only come out after you received a determination for compensation. In the event that you don’t receive anything, then the attorney that worked the case would not receive anything either. After all, 33% of $0 is still $0.
Most of the time you won’t have to worry about figuring out how to pay your Atlanta auto accident lawyers. What should happen is the award would go to that law office where the attorney would take their fee and then address any open debts related to the claim. That would include handling medical liens and paying auto shops for their repairs too. Then you would receive the remaining amount of the compensation award.
Speaking to Atlanta Auto Accident Lawyers
Atlanta auto accident attorneys often meet with potential clients to help determine the possibilities of the claim. There are genuine situations where a driver could handle a car accident claim independently, without the help of an attorney. However, most situations come down to a dispute between the drivers and the insurance companies which can make claims complex and difficult to handle.
When you choose to involve an Atlanta auto accident lawyer from the Weinstein firm, you’ll have the opportunity to go through the possibilities of your claim. Our team strives to make legal representation affordable to everyone who needs it, victims should not go without legal representation because it’s too expensive. If you want to crash, then contact the Weinstein firm right away. We can help you know how to approach your insurance company and how to handle elements of the claim, such as making a statement and issuing a demand letter. Get support now.
