How Can I Afford a Car Accident Lawyer in South Florida?

Cost is one of the many concerns that come to your mind at the time of hiring the services of a law firm in South Florida. Determining the cost and affordability of a car accident lawyer in South Florida can be one of the trickiest parts!

When the initial shock of an accident begins to get rudimentary, most people start worrying about how they will be able to pay for the associated legal costs. Usually, accidents can give way to a variety of financial losses. These might involve loss of medical expenses, property damage, and loss of income.

Moreover, you have no other option but to hire a good accident lawyer, if you wish to win your case! Taking actions on your own, with no legal guidance, can make you fall prey to the insurance company.

You must keep in mind that most of the insurance companies are in the business of making profits for their shareholders. They main aim is to make profits! They will find reasons to deny your claim so they do not have to pay for it. So, you need to really hurry and hire a professional legal guide for yourself!

The good news is that most of the genuine personal injury lawyers go for a contingency fee arrangement with their personal injury clients. This means that any legal fees that are paid come out of the settlements or awards that the lawyers recover on your behalf. The payment is in the form of a percentage of the entire compensation received. In case your case remains unresolved, you will owe nothing in legal fees. Also, most of these consultations are free of charge. This means that you can find out if you have a valid case without any financial risk. Thus way, lawyers ensure that injured victims have access to legal representation.

What is a contingency fee in Florida?

A contingency fee agreement is the most common kind of fee arrangement when an attorney takes a personal injury case. In this case, when the attorney gets paid, it’s usually a certain percentage of the total recovered amount. The term “standard” for contingency fee percentages in South Florida personal injury cases, refers to one-third or 33 percent. Usually, the timeline upon which the case settles and the complexity of the legal matter varies from one case to another. The contingency fee percentage ranges between 20% and 40%.

Sometimes, the litigation costs and expenses get into the picture. When it comes to a car accident attorney to litigate a case, he needs to consider certain expenditures. These include court filings, process servers, expert witnesses, postage and mailing, court reporters, and records, like medical charts and police reports. These fees usually add up, to at least a few thousand dollars. It might reach an amount of $20,000 or more.

On the basis of the fine print of the contingency fee arrangement, the attorney decides to cover these expenses when they become due. Some of these costs might be deducted from any personal injury settlement obtained for you. It is to be considered whether the expenses are cut before or after the attorney receives his/her contingency fee percentage.

What to know about the contingency fee?

You must try to know about the contingency fee before you hire an attorney. Most of the law firms and lawyers handle personal injury cases under the fee called “contingency fee.” This clearly implies that the lawyer does not get paid anything unless there is a recovery. Genuine lawyers usually advance all of the costs incurred in the case.

On the basis of the contingency fee, if there is no recovery, you owe no costs. This is a type of risk that most lawyers take. This is one of the biggest reasons lawyers ask you all the possible details before taking up your case. If the insurance company fights to avoid paying your claim, it can sometimes cost the lawyers a large sum of fortune.

A genuine personal injury attorney is one who is able to explain how fees and costs will be incurred. You must ask questions about the arrangement if any particular thing strikes you or is not entirely clear to you.

How to determine the viability of a case?

In order to confirm that you have a valid case, get it reviewed by an South Florida attorney who practices in personal injury law. Go for a proper consultation as soon as possible. You are required to show that the accident in which you were injured was caused by someone else’s negligence.

What is the Hourly Option?

This is a commonly-used billing method. However, it might not be employed much by car accident attorneys who work on the plaintiffs’ side. Usually, hourly billing is more common for car accident defense attorneys. Here, the attorney receives a set amount of money per hour of work completed. This is regardless of whether you win the case. You might be expected to pay an amount somewhere in between $100 to $500 per hour.

What are Flat Fee Agreements?

The flat fee is a fee that an attorney charges for a specific amount of legal work. The flat fee billing method is less common with South Florida car accident attorneys. However, it will sometimes come up when the client only needs the attorney for a specific task. When it comes to a small, set amount of legal work, a car accident attorney will use a flat fee billing arrangement, because of the unpredictability of litigation.

What is Retainer Plus Contingency?

In this type of contingency, a client pays an attorney a retainer at the start of the case. If the plaintiff wins, the attorney receives a contingency fee. A retainer is a lump sum payment that serves as an advance. When it comes to car accident cases, the retainer can range from hundred to thousand dollars.

When the case ends, the attorney takes the contingency fee percentage. However, he/she deducts from it the original retainer amount. This is an important point to keep in mind at the time of determining overall fees.