During the divorce process, child custody guidelines will be established. Decisions will be made about who will have physical custody of the children, who will pay how much in child support, how much visitation the non-custodial parent will be allowed, and other issues regarding the well-being of the children. Later on, however, the circumstances of one or both of the parents may change which could require further litigation. At that point, both parents will need to hire a child custody attorney who specializes in just such cases. As with medical specialists, these attorneys don’t work cheap, so you need to seriously consider your need for this type of attorney before you hire one.

First of all, you need to be prepared to pay the lawyer an advance fee known as a retainer. As the attorney and his staff start billing you on an hours-worked basis, the costs will be deducted from your retainer. If the case ends up taking more hours than anticipated and using up all of the retainer monies, you will be billed for the additional. You should realize that family law attorneys charge hourly rates that range anywhere from $75/hour to $500/hour. Time spent in court will be even more costly. Even if your case is quite simple, it could end up costing you $3,000 to $5,000. More complicated cases that include taking depositions, hiring expert witnesses, investigation of the other parent, and time getting ready for and conducting a trial will cost even more.

It’s hard to predict in advance just how long a custody case will last. If you and your spouse can reach your own agreements and settle out of court, you stand to save a lot of money. More involved custody cases may cost $35,000 or more due to everything that’s involved. If you’ve decided to go back to court to have your child support raised, you’ll need to stop and do some figuring first. If you need a substantial raise in payments just to cover your lawyer fees, the whole suit may prove to be a financial fiasco for everyone except the Child Custody Lawyers in Phoenix, Arizona.

Other fees may also creep into a child custody case. For example, if you need to purchase books that explain the child custody system, count on paying from $12 to $100 each. Some attorneys will bill you separately for filing fees, court costs, and miscellaneous expenses. This could tack on another $250 or more to your bill. Sometimes it’s necessary to work with a mediator who will charge anywhere from $80 to $250 an hour for their services. You also may be billed for your initial consultation. Therefore, you will want a written estimate of what the entire case is going to cost you before you sign anything.