Attorney’s Fees for Property Damage Claims in North Carolina
If you are planning on hiring a personal injury lawyer to assist you with your North Carolina property damage claim, it is essential that you understand exactly how much of the lawyer will receive from your property damage claim. It is not uncommon for clients to become confused or upset when they discover exactly how much their lawyer is taking of their claim. To ensure that you understand where your money is going, it is important that you understand that a contingency fee agreement may entitle your lawyer to a significant percentage of your recovery or award.
Spend some time speaking to your lawyer about how your attorney’s fees will be calculated and if it’s still not clear, be sure to ask for specific examples to help illustrate how the attorney’s fees would be calculated. If and when your property damage claim received an offer from the insurance company, please be sure to ask your lawyer how much of the settlement would be going to attorney’s fees.
How the calculator works
Enter the expected gross recovery, the contingency fee percentage from your retainer agreement, and the case costs and medical liens that will be paid from the settlement. The calculator subtracts the attorney’s fee and those deductions and shows the amount left for you. A lien or bill you leave out is still paid from your share, so the real number can be substantially lower.
Questions to ask before you sign a retainer
- Is the percentage calculated on the gross recovery or after costs? The order changes what you receive.
- Does the percentage go up if the case is filed or tried? Many agreements step from one third to forty percent at filing.
- Which costs come out of my share? Filing fees, records, expert witnesses, and mediation are common.
- Who negotiates the liens, and does that work cost extra? At Wallace Pierce Law it does not.
Want a real number instead of an estimate? Call (919) 313-2737 or contact us online. Free, confidential, no fee until we win your case.
