Under hourly billing, every phone call costs money. Every email costs money. Every question you want to ask before making a decision costs money.
If you spent years in a household where someone else controlled the finances, where spending on yourself felt like something you needed permission for, hourly billing puts you right back there. You are finally spending money to protect yourself, and the bill makes every conversation feel like something you have to justify.
So you do not ask the question. You write a text to your spouse late at night, and you do not run it past your attorney first. You just send it. You do not ask what the settlement proposal means, because the last invoice was already more than you expected. Most hourly attorneys bill in six-minute increments, and you start counting them. You know that the money going to those increments could be going to your children, to your stability, to the life you are trying to build after this.
You end up deciding with less information than you need. The information exists. Asking for it costs too much.
What I watched clients do
In twenty-five years of practice, I watched clients hold back from me because they could hear the clock. The worst decisions in divorce are the ones made alone, late at night, when the pressure has been building for weeks and you do not reach out because you are not sure you can afford the conversation.
So I changed the way I bill. Your case is divided into stages, and each stage has a set fee you agree to in advance. You know what each step costs before we take it. Questions are part of the fee. Call, email, text, or message me through the portal. None of it touches the bill.
You can still choose to pay by the hour. I recommend the flat fee, and this is why.
What changes when you stop counting
You ask the question you were holding back. You send the angry text to me through the portal before it goes to your spouse, not after. You book time in my telephone office hours when you need to talk something through. You get advice when you need it most, which is exactly when hourly billing makes you hesitate.
A court date goes badly. The other side files something aggressive. Your instinct is to surrender, or to stop opening your email, or to fire back. That is when you can send me a message without doing math first. That message might be the difference between a decision you cannot undo and a pause that gives you room to think.
Four questions to ask about any fee arrangement
If you are beginning a divorce, or you are in the middle of one and wondering where the money is going, ask yourself four questions.
Do I know what my case will cost? Not an estimate. Not a range. An actual number for the stage I am in.
Do I feel comfortable reaching out to my attorney with a question, or do I calculate the cost before I send the message?
Does my attorney earn more when my case takes longer?
When I am at my worst, does my fee arrangement protect me or expose me?
The fourth question matters most. There will be a worst night in your divorce. It may follow a court date, or a motion, or a question from your child that you do not know how to answer. On that night, you should not be weighing whether you can afford to reach out to your attorney.
A flat fee does not make divorce painless. It does not remove conflict, uncertainty, or the hard work of negotiation. It removes one calculation.
How the stages work, what each one includes, and where the fees begin are on my fees page.