Legal Fees


What can I expect to pay an attorney for a Criminal or Family Law case in Tarrant County?

Criminal including Felonies and Misdemeanors

When you hire our Fort Worth Attorneys to represent you or someone you know in a criminal matter, we will charge you a flat-fee like most criminal attorneys in Texas do. Criminal cases are normally charged through a flat-fee due to many factors. We will meet with you in person to talk about your specific situation. This meeting helps us understand the scope of the entire representation according to your needs. Some criminal cases are taken care of through pre-trial negotiation whereas others are fought all the way through jury trial and sometimes even through appeal.

While the exact fee we charge for every criminal matter depends on the particular facts of the case, generally our firm charges $1500 as an up front retainer on most criminal cases. However, we have been known to charge as little as $500 up front with bi-weekly payments on auto-draft for some clients. This retainer fee can go up depending on different factors including the seriousness of the charge, the number of charges, any criminal history of the client, the county and court the case is filed in and the expectations of the client, just to name a few.

For most criminal cases, we can estimate for you what the total legal fee will be. For instance, if you have a DWI where we need to hire an expert for trial, you can expect to pay somewhere between $5000 - 10000 total for your case. If you have a serious aggravated felony where trial is necessary, you may expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $7500 - 25000 depending on the complexity of the charge. Anything more serious like a murder charge would be substantially more, probably in the range of $25000-100000. Something like Capital Murder would require fees from $100000-250000. Remember these are just general estimates and the actual cost for your legal case cannot be determined until we meet with you. We can, however, gives quotes over the phone if you cannot come into our office.

We do offer payment plans for legal fees in Fort Worth and Weatherford. After the initial retainer is paid, we can normally work out a payment plan with our clients through an auto-draft using a credit or debit card account.

Adoption, Custody, Divorce, Modification or Termination

For your divorce and or child custody case, our Fort Worth attorney generally charge by the hour. Because of the length of these cases and the need for several court hearings in some circumstances, an hourly billing structure is the most appropriate for these types of cases. Generally, we charge an up front retainer of $1500 - 7500 depending on the complexity of the case including the size of the marital estate, any custody litigation and property issues.

Our normal hourly billing rate is $300 per hour for our managing attorney and $150 for our staff members. With family law cases, there are normally also filing fees and service fees that must be paid up front. These fees can run into the hundreds or thousands depending on what type of case it is and who we need to serve. These filing and service fees are taken out of the retainer along with any earned fees. Once the retainer becomes low or is used up, we will mail you an invoice for an advanced payment or unpaid balance. Generally, our invoices are payable upon receipt.

A divorce case in Fort Worth, Dallas or Weatherford will generally cost anywhere between $7500 - 25000 depending on the complexity of the case. It is not at all uncommon for some divorces to cost upwards of $25000 or even more for high-net worth clients with complex property issues.

A custody case in Fort Worth or Weatherford normally will cost somewhere between $5000 - 15000. However, this cost can go up if there are multiple parties to the litigation, if a custody evaluation is needed, if an Ad Litem if needed or if depositions are required.

Adoptions can cost anywhere from $3500 to 10000 depending on if the adoption is contested or if it is a Termination/Adoption case.

Lastly, for an uncontested or agreed divorce or custody case, our Fort Worth attorneys generally charge a flat-fee of $1500 - 3500. This price includes the filing fee, the cost to draft the paperwork and the prove-up if necessary.

For some helpful information on what you should look for in hiring a lawyer and some things to watch out for, click HERE to visit our Blog.