Fair and Honest Billing 
A retainer is an amount paid to secure representation of a law firm or attorney. Edwards & Associates requires that a retainer be paid prior to beginning representation. We will incorporate our trained legal staff to assist with the legal work at lower rates to help minimize your overall costs. The retainer works as a deposit against future legal services. Therefore, if there is a retainer balance at the conclusion of your case, you will receive a refund of the remaining balance. Also, we require that clients maintain all or most of the retainer balance at all times during representation.
You will be told the amount of the retainer required during your initial consultation. It can range from $3500 and $50,000 - depending on the complexity of your case. We require an initial consultation because we need to fully understand your unique situation and case before quoting a retainer.
Many matters can be handled for the retainer or less. Other matters may take much more extensive work and time. If you need a loan to finance your case, click here.
Also keep in mind that one of the benefits of our firm is that you will retain one of the preeminent family law attorneys in Georgia, while at the same same time, benefitting from significantly reduced rates as she is able to delegate much of your case work to our paralegals and associate attorney.
You should also know that we do not compromise on quality. Family Law cases must be done correctly. And to minimize the risks associated with family law cases, once your case has begun, we move expeditiously towards a settlement or trial. Unfortunately, quality and speed cost more than slow, mediocre service. We are by no means the least expensive law firm you can hire. If the absolute lowest fee is all you care about, just realize that if you hire the attorney who quotes the lowest fee, you run the risk of getting less expertise and professionalism than you need.
Our hourly rates are as follows:
Managing Partner Regina I. Edwards $ 300 per hour
Associate attorneys: $ 250 per hour
Paralegals: $ 125 - 175 per hour
Out of Pocket Expenses
Most attorneys will charge for out-of-pocket expenses, which will increase your bill. When interviewing attorneys, be sure to ask if they charge for extra expenses. 9 times out of 10, they do. We do not. We do not charge for routine out-of-pocket expenses, which will save you money over the life of your case. We do not charge for mileage to get to court. We do not charge for long distance calls and faxes. We do not charge for postage, research subscription fees, courier fees or per page copy fees. We subscribe to a state-of-the-art server which allows every client to have 24/7 access to their case. We do not pass this cost on to our clients. It is our pleasure to provide them this service. We are too busy working on your case to figure out ways to nickel-and-dime you.
Award of Attorney's Fees
Depending on the circumstances of your individual case, we may ask the Court to order the other party to reimburse you for your attorney's fees and expenses. Please keep in mind that it is up to the judge’s discretion whether or not to grant such an award. Therefore, we will still need our Initial Retainer to begin a case and any reimbursement or award by the court will be applied to your bill as the fees are received. Any excess will be immediately refunded to you when the case is complete.
Attorney's Lien on Property
In limited divorce cases, if the parties agree that a house or other property will be sold as part of the divorce, we may choose to require the Initial Retainer to begin a case and then any outstanding remaining balance beyond the Initial Retainer can be settled through the proceeds on the sale of your property.
Flat fee Cases
In limited cases we may work on a flat fee basis. A flat fee basis can be effective for uncontested divorces, some contested divorces, modification cases involving child support, alimony or custody, contempt for nonpayment of support, TPO (temporary protective order) cases, and other matters. The flat fee option protects the client financially in the event the other party attempts to drag out or unnecessarily prolong the case.
We serve clients throughout the Greater Atlanta, Georgia, area through offices in Gwinnett, Cobb, Fulton and Forsyth County.
We also practice in Clayton, Rockdale and DeKalb
