Q: How much would it be to hire a lawyer for court one time to fight an emergency custody order?
A:
Hello. You should consult with an experienced Family Law attorney and give him/her the facts in your case. Then ask the lawyer what sort of representation assistance the attorney can provide and how much it would cost.
In general, however, under the Colorado attorney ethics rules and rules of civil procedure, attorneys can offer "limited scope representation" to a client as long as the fee agreement the attorney proposes states exactly what the attorney will do and will not do and how much it will cost.
Some family law attorneys offer limited scope fee agreements to a client where the attorney assists the client for just one issue, or just one court appearance, and then leaves the case. How much the attorney charges for that assistance varies from attorney to attorney. The cost is usually less than a "full representation" fee agreement with an attorney, because the attorney is not "on the hook" to work on your entire case. He or she is just working on one piece of the case.
Consult with an experienced family law attorney and explain your facts and your situation. Ask the attorney if he/she offers a "limited scope representation" fee agreement or an "unbundled legal services" fee agreement. Those are the buzz words that let an attorney know that you want to limit the scope, and thus the cost, of the legal services you are requesting from the attorney. Ask the attorney exactly what he or she will and will do for you, the number of hours he/she estimates it will take to assist you, and what the cost for those attorney hours will be. An attorney with a good unbundled legal services fee agreement will state the estimated cost in the agreement.
Good luck to you!
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