Contingency Fees | We’ll Take Our Chances

I’m Mike Hackard of Hackard Law. We work at being one of California’s leading estate and trust litigation law firms. This work often involves contingency fees.

In a typical contingency fee agreement, the plaintiff is only responsible for paying their attorney if they settle or win the case. California law requires that the contingency fee rate be agreed upon. The law also requires disclosure on how case disbursements and costs will affect the contingency fee and the client’s recovery.

I’ve represented thousands of clients over my 45-year legal career – many of them on a contingency fee basis. Contingency fees don’t fit every circumstance. But they are commonplace in personal injury and wrongful death litigation.

Many of us who litigate estate, trust, and elder financial abuse cases will also work on contingency fees. Not always – it depends on the circumstances.

Contingency fees involve risk analysis. We look at the nature of the case. Does it involve a Will? Trust? Or, Financial Abuse? Who are the good actors? And the bad?

What happens if the Will is overturned? Is there another Will? Does the estate go intestate? If so, who are the intestate heirs? Same issues as to trusts.

Elder financial abuse cases bring another set of rules. Another set of concerns. Who can bring the case? What happens to the underlying Will or Trust? What happens to its assets? Does the wrongdoer get disinherited?

I could go on and on with questions. These are only a few. When it comes down to it, we need to decide if “we’ll take our chances” on a case that is offered to us. It’s not a decision made lightly.

We turn away far more cases than we take. For a whole variety of reasons – parties, locations, assets, statutes of limitations, lack of proof, and the list goes on.

If you’d like to talk to us about your estate, trust, or elder financial abuse case, call us at Hackard Law: 916-313-3030. We’ll be glad to listen to your story.

Hackard Law: Attorneys Making A Difference.