Consultation & Fees | Miles Mason Family Law Group, PLC
Our conference room.
The Next Step:
Your Consultation
$400.00 flat fee.
Depending on availability, you will consult with Miles Mason, Sr. or an Associate Attorney. After providing some basic information to help us learn more about you and we check for a possible conflict of interest, you may choose to schedule your confidential consultation. For persons seeking a confidential consultation regarding matters outside our immediate geographic area (Shelby County, Tipton County, Fayette County, and Madison County), the flat fee for consultation will be a different amount. Please inquire.
When you are ready, call (901) 683-1850 ext. 200.
Important Details about Your Consultation
During your time with us, we attempt to answer as many of your questions as we can. But first, we need to learn your concerns, needs, values, and priorities. We analyze what is known and share with you our thoughts regarding the relative strengths and the weaknesses of your position. We hope you will get a feel for who we are. Upon engaging our firm, we share advice tailored to your situation to save you time, money, and stress. We will start to determine your unique challenges, obtain necessary information and documents, offer an initial strategic action plan, and collaborate to set realistic goals.
If you are consulting with us for possible divorce representation, if you have time, we recommend you download and read our free e-Book, Your First Steps: 7 Steps Planning Your Tennessee Divorce. Please arrive about fifteen (15) minutes before your appointment to complete some basic paperwork and make financial arrangements.
Another view of our conference room.
Every person consulting with us regarding a divorce receives a complimentary copy of Miles Mason, Sr.’s book, The Tennessee Divorce Client’s Handbook: What Every Divorcing Spouse Needs to Know.
In some respects, you are interviewing us and we are interviewing you. We must determine if we are good fit for each other. There are many reasons why we might decide not to represent you, but if we make such a decision, it should never be taken personally.
Because there is a flat fee for the consultation, you need not worry that “the clock is ticking” if the consultation lasts a bit more than an hour. You are encouraged to take the time to be sure you are getting the advice you need and that you understand your legal options. If your consultation takes significantly longer than an hour, you will be charged the lawyer’s hourly rate. But, you will be informed well in advance before an additional fee will be charged.
Towards the end of your confidential consultation, should you want to discuss engaging our firm, we will be in a better position to determine the required retainer and discuss overall costs. For your convenience, we accept cash, checks, Venmo, Visa, MasterCard and American Express.
A “telephone consultation” is just like a regular consultation, except for the fact that it occurs over the telephone. The same consultation fee applies and must be paid at the time of scheduling the call.
If you retain our firm to represent you, we hope you will meet the rest of our team and tour our offices. You will receive additional reading material and a homework packet. These resources and tools have been painstakingly prepared to provide a concise and definitive introduction to the divorce process, forming the basis for our giving the attention to detail which our clients demand. Many of our homework exercises have been specially created after receiving feedback from clients about the most effective ways to share important information.
Office Location
Our offices are located at:
Crescent Center
6075 Poplar Avenue
Suite 403
Memphis, TN 38119
For a map and directions to our offices, see our Contact Us page.
As of July 1, 2024, we moved. Note that some Internet sites still list our old address.
Office Hours
8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Retainer for Divorces and Hourly Rates
Your retainer is determined at the end of your confidential consultation. Typical retainers for a divorce range from $5,000.00 to $7,500.00 depending on a number of factors particular to your situation.
Attorneys charge hourly rates ranging from $300.00 to $425.00 per hour. Paralegals, legal assistants, and law clerks charge hourly rates from $85.00 to $160.00 per hour. Hourly rates are subject to change without updating this page. Retainers and hourly rates charged by outside professionals, such as appraisers, forensic accountants, or forensic psychologists, will be quoted in advance by those professionals and are billed directly by the outside professionals.
View our Client Testimonials and Reviews.
Retainers: Certain Divorces, Out of Town Clients, and Legal Matters Filed After Divorce Granted
Depending on the circumstances, the minimum retainer may be greater for matters involving custody disputes, parenting plan modification, or divorces with larger estates, business valuation, pension division, real estate valuation, or utilization of a forensic accountant or other expert witness including income determination issues, parental relocation, alimony modification, representation of clients residing outside Memphis (or where the case is being heard), and matters which have already had a substantial amount of legal proceedings including those requiring substitution for existing legal counsel.
Important Details About Retainers and Rates
A retainer is an amount paid to secure representation when a client engages a law firm. Retainer amounts and corresponding terms and conditions vary greatly from one law firm to another. The Miles Mason Family Law Group, PLC requires that a retainer be paid before representation begins. Our retainers are fully refundable, after being reduced by all charges for the work performed on the case prior to issuing the refund. No part of the retainer is deemed earned when paid. In other words, the retainer is merely a down-payment against future legal services. Also, we require that clients maintain the retainer balance at all times during representation. At the conclusion of the matter, the retainer balance is refunded. We reserve the right to increase or otherwise change retainer requirements without update to this web site.
Other Family Law Matters
Retainers vary by complexity of matter. Final determination of retainer amount provided only following a consultation.
Why We Cannot Answer Legal Questions Over E-mail
We often receive e-mail from individuals seeking legal advice. Some ask simple questions. Some are desperate pleas for help. We cannot answer questions, give legal advice, or quote retainer ranges or fee rates over e-mail for several reasons. Also, we will not schedule consultations via e-mail.
First, we provide legal advice to clients only. Several things would need to happen before Miles Mason Family Law Group, PLC, could agree to accept a new client. When a person calls for the first time, the firm must do a conflict check to see whether accepting the new client would present a conflict with any existing clients of the firm. To do this, we would need to know your full name and address and the identity of any parties adverse to you. It would also be necessary for you to tell us, without revealing any confidential information, the general nature of your family law problem. If our conflict check does not reveal any known conflicts, then we would be able to proceed. We would describe our billing rates and policies to you. In general, we charge by the hour plus expenses and only rarely perform fixed-fee work, except for certain small tasks that are predictable in scope. Thus, the cost to you for our services is determined by how long it takes us to do whatever you have asked us to do. Our hourly rates are adjusted from time to time and vary somewhat according to the complexity and scope of the matter.
Second, in order to answer questions accurately, we may need to ask you several questions or review documents, which cannot easily be done via e-mail.
Third, because there is no confidentiality with e-mail, some authorities have suggested that this would be a violation of ethical restrictions. Also, we have no way to know whether or not the person is who he or she claims or is already represented by another attorney.
Disclaimer
Transmission and receipt of materials, including e-mail, via this website or directly to the firm’s attorneys do not create an attorney-client relationship. Persons who have not retained our firm’s services who elect to transmit e-mail to the firm or an attorney of the firm should have no expectation of any protected privilege. We do not, and cannot, guarantee the security of e-mail communications.
