How Much Does a Child Support Lawyer Cost?

Child support lawyers are a necessity in the critical turning points of children’s lives when their own parents can no longer agree what is in their best interests or what expenses should be properly incurred for their benefit. The good news is that family lawyers can assist with explaining the legal burdens of parental splits, especially when it comes to outlining the specifics of budgeting and cost-sharing to work towards minimizing the impact on the child’s standard of living.

No one wants to overpay for legal services, especially when a case may affect a parent’s annual budget for years – this requires professional advice. It’s so crucial to choose a barrister or solicitor with whom you can have a positive connection and whose experience you can trust—to make the legal costs you need to resolve worth it. So, let’s take another look at how much retaining a good family lawyer in Calgary might cost you and what you get from hiring quality legal services.

Understanding the Cost of a Child Support Lawyer Calgary

In Calgary, most child support lawyers charge an hourly rate that can go from an average of $250 to $650 per hour. Others may charge fixed prices for specific services deemed essential to completing a child support arrangement. Fees and retainers are usually discussed and agreed upon at your initial consultation with a lawyer you believe can give you proper advice.

If you and your lawyer decide to sign a retainer agreement at this point, then you would deposit a lump sum into your lawyer’s account (called a retainer), and then they can begin working. If it’s a set of fixed costs for essential services, you might get a cost breakdown and then pay for the services upfront or after they’re rendered. It all depends on what you and your lawyer agree upon in your initial consultation.

By its very nature, family law is complicated and unpredictable, and the time it takes to reach a settlement or resolution with your former spouse could be just as unexpected.

Child support arrangements resulting in only agreed contracts and consent Orders may be less expensive than those requiring several face-to-face meetings or family court filings. Naturally, the more time spent, the higher the cost if you’re on a retainer agreement with a family lawyer.

To get an agreement from two parents or a ruling from a family Court for child support arrangements, a lawyer’s work involves hard-to-quantify client benefits.  Think of it like this: when you pay money to buy a car, you purchase an object that you can immediately drive off of the lot.  When you hire a lawyer, you are paying money to try to obtain a favourable result.  That’s where experience counts, and where the lawyer you choose has the ability to interpret and apply the law and precedents from other cases similar to yours. That experience is why some lawyers charge more per hour than others.

Another factor necessitating the costs of a child custody lawyer is the very nature of the adversarial process. Your former spouse may likely have a lawyer going to bat for them, meaning you might not get an equitable result from the Court if you don’t have a similar degree of expertise working on your side.

What to Expect When Paying the Cost of a Child Support Lawyer

When you start a retainer with a child custody lawyer, they will deduct amounts from your retainer as your file progresses. The amount deducted corresponds with the hours spent working on your file. Your lawyer will keep you informed every step of the way, seek your additional instructions as necessary, and provide you with a detailed billing of all work conducted typically on a monthly basis.

By leaning on carefully honed skills, knowledge, and wisdom, the work your lawyer undertakes considers all relevant information and applies the Federal Child Support guidelines with caselaw precedent to argue in your favour. If you’re going to compare the cost of a lawyer with doing it all yourself, you should factor in all the time it would take to learn the law to present a proper case to a Judge, complete all paperwork accurately and become comfortable with public speaking at Court.

In our opinion, that’s just not worth the cost of potential mistakes, frustration and distress, especially during such an emotionally draining and transitional life experience. At McLean Legal Family Lawyers, we are here to provide you with moral support and simplify the legal process for you—so life can get back on track for you and the children.