RPC 2

Contingent Fees in Child-Support Cases

Opinion rules that a lawyer may charge a contingent fee to recover child support payments.

Inquiry: 

A and B were formerly married and are the parents of C. A has custody of C pursuant to court order. B is required by court order to make specific child support payments, but B is currently in arrears in his child support payments in a definite sum.

May Lawyer L ethically represent A in a child support enforcement action against B upon a fee contract specifying an agreed percentage of such monies collected? 

Opinion:

Lawyer L's proposal for a fee arrangement with A contemplates a contingent fee payable upon collection of specific amounts of past due child support payments. Rule 2.6(a) prohibits an illegal fee arrangement or collection of an illegal or clearly excessive fee. Numerous factors are to be considered in determining whether a fee is excessive. Contingent fees are only explicitly prohibited in criminal cases. Rule 2.6(c). Contingent fees also appear to be prohibited in North Carolina, as a result of a decision of the North Carolina Court of Appeals, if the contract makes the fee contingent upon procuring a divorce or upon the amount of alimony and/or property awarded in a divorce case.Thompson v. Thompson, 70 N.C. App. 147, 319 S.E.2d 315 (1984), rev. on other grounds, 313 N.C. 313, 328 S.E.2d 288 (1985).

Many jurisdictions, like North Carolina, hold contingent fee arrangements in domestic relations actions void as against public policy where the fee is contingent upon procuring a divorce or the amount of alimony or child support payments, or property settlement in lieu thereof, to be awarded.See Speiser, Attorneys' Fees §2:6 (1973). However, most jurisdictions which have considered the issue of contingent fees for attorney efforts to collect specific amounts of past due support payments owed pursuant to contract or prior court order have concluded that such arrangements do not violate the public policy prohibiting contingent fee contracts in divorce actions based upon the amount of alimony or child support to be awarded or on a property settlement in lieu thereof. Bar organizations reaching these conclusions include Florida (See Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct 801:2501), the Birmingham Bar Association (See Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct (801:1103), and New York County Bar Organization (See Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct 280).

A lawyer is not necessarily prohibited from entering into a contingent fee arrangement for collection of liquidated amounts of past due support. However, the lawyer must always keep in mind the prohibition against entering into an agreement for, charging, or collecting an excessive fee and the factors listed in Rule 2.6(b). If, for example, collection of the past due child support appears to be relatively simple and assured because of known assets or garnishment procedures available to lawyer L's client, a contingent fee may be inappropriate as resulting in an excessive fee in view of the time and labor involved, novelty and difficulty or lack thereof of the questions involved, skill necessary to perform the legal service properly, likelihood or lack thereof that acceptance of the employment will preclude other employment by the attorney, fee normally charged for similar circumstances, and other factors. The attorney may need to charge a significantly smaller percentage than in cases, such as personal injury actions, where any recovery at all or the amount likely to be recovered may be highly speculative. Where a client is currently unable to pay an attorney for services in collecting child support or alimony payments, which have been reduced to a sum certain and are currently in arrears, an attorney may wish to enter into an agreement by which the client simply defers payment until a later date with an interest charge where the procedures involved are neither novel nor unduly difficult and where known assets or attachment or garnishment procedures are apparently available for collection on the past due support payments. Alternatively, a contingent fee contract might provide for a substantially smaller percentage of the amount collected than in other types of contingency cases.

Lawyer L is not automatically prohibited from entering into a contingent fee arrangement with A in a child support enforcement action against B in the action for collection of specific past due child support payments, but may wish to consider whether a contingent fee arrangement will result in or may result in an excessive fee, at least if the agreement is for the usual percentage in cases handled on a contingent fee basis where success or the amount to be obtained may be far more speculative.