Fee Transparency
Janko Family Law Solutions offers some of the most affordable fees in Colorado Springs for an experienced attorney. We support access to justice and our fees reflect that. Legal services are an investment. You get one bite at the apple for the most part in court proceedings and no do overs, so it is wise to invest in a guide who understands the law, procedure and court system. It is also helpful to understand how attorney’s fees are billed and paid as the traditional system differs from other service providers.
FeesOur lead attorney hourly rate is $350 with a military discount of $325.00 for military officers, veterans or family members and $300.00 for military enlisted, veterans or family members. We do not pass credit card processing fees along to you. Our paralegal rate is $175.00. Our legal assistant rate is $95.00. Compare with mid-range fees in Colorado Springs between $350.00 - $380.00 at many other firms.
RetainersFor full-scope representation, clients pay a “retainer”, which is kept like a security deposit to be used towards the end of the case when resolution is clear or to be refunded. The retainer is placed into our trust account and kept there. We then send bills every two weeks for your review and payment. We ask that you keep a credit card on file to pay the biweekly bills. We only draw on the retainer as a back up if there is an issue with charging the card, and then we ask you for new card information.
By paying biweekly, costs are kept as affordable as possible. We also perform flat fee legal services for uncontested matters, where you simply pay one fee for completion of an entire legal action. Flat fees are not possible for full-scope contested matters because we do not know what the level of cooperation or conflict will be.
Our retainer rate is $3000.00 for full-scope representation, where we handle everything for you on your case from start to finish. However if there is a hearing already set in your case, the retainer fee may be higher. For an appeal, we can often quote you a flat fee, which depends on the complexity of the legal issues involved.
Although we don’t have payment plans, we can refer our clients to the Client Credit program through LawPay where clients can apply for a loan which is then automatically deposited into the retainer account. Many of our clients utilize this resource and have been happy with it.
Modest Means RepresentationWe take modest means cases through the El Paso County Bar Association Justice Center. Rates are $1250 retainer and $125.00 an hour. Please contact the Justice Center for income qualification at https://www.justicecentercos.org request to be referred to us.
Hourly BillingWe only bill you for the time that we spend on your case and because each case is different, we don’t know up front what the cost of a contested case will be. Although we can’t tell you up front what the exact cost will be, we can tell you that our approach minimizes cost and conflict to the maximum extent possible for the parties. The higher the cooperation, the lower the cost. A Janko Family Law Solutions, we attempt to reach agreement with the other party, if possible, to keep relations as constructive as possible and costs as low as possible. Janko Family Law Solutions does offer a military and first responder discount as well as lower paralegal rates for legal support work on cases.
Unbundled ServicesFor those who feel that they can handle some aspects of their cases themselves, or are looking for a lower overall case cost, we can offer “unbundled,” discrete services where we perform some tasks and you perform others. Discrete services could involve drafting motions or giving legal coaching advice or assistance with a mediation, or any number of other types of tasks that are performed in the course of legal representation.
ConsultationsWe provide a free initial thirty-minute consultation to give general information and to identify legal options. For legal advice about specific case aspects, we offer a one-hour paid legal advice session. An advise session is $350.00 for one hour including a document review.
Expenses and Court FeesIn court cases various expenses are incurred, to include filing or service of process fees, for example. If we are retained for full scope representation, we generally pay initial filing and service fees from the retainer and add the expenses to the bill. Certain other fees are usually paid directly by the client to the provider, such as transcript fees, deposition fees or appraisals.
Billing QuestionsWe are happy to answer questions about billing and require compliance with invoices and payments. Bills are generated every two weeks and we send them to you for the opportunity to review and ask any questions that you may have.
If you have questions about your fees or billing, contact Janko Family Law Solutions for a free case assessment to determine what your legal options are and how we might assist in resolving your legal issue so that you can put it behind you. We can be contacted at 719-344-5523.