Collections

 

Lien Notificiations & Deferred Fee Collections Program*

We will provide pre-suit legal services and will defer the legal fees of $210 until we collect from the delinquent owner. Each pre-suit collection account will also include a flat administrative cost of $45 that will be added onto the debtor's account, but is not deferred.

• Deferred Collections Program:

  -Demand/Warning of Suit letter	-Preparation & Filing of lien	-Ownership Verification
  -Set up payment plans	-Verification of debt

• Fixed, Flat Rate Legal Fees for Litigation in Magistrate Court

Retainer Client Collections

Under the Retainer, we will provide the following services under our Deferred Fee Collections Program:

Included as part of the retainer fee, Gaddis And Lanier Law will provide the following pre-suit services on a deferred fee basis for any account for each delinquent homeowner account turned over to us for processing. A legal fee of $210 per account will added to the delinquent homeowner's ledger, and will be deferred until the association receives payment from the delinquent homeowner or in the event that your association closes an account or terminates our services. Partial payments received from delinquent owners shall be first applied to legal fees. At commencement of the collection case, your Association will only be billed a $45 administrative fee per account to cover the costs of lien filing, postage and copies. Additionally, all closing payoff requests will incur a legal fee of $150 for preparation of the closing payoff letter, which amount shall also be added to the debtor's balance due.

1. Obtain verification of title for the property in question using an online search engine. Those searches requiring a title searcher will be subject to a fee charged by the searcher;
2. Prepare and send customized collection letters to all delinquent owners of record per account;
3. Prepare and file a lien against the property;
4. Process payments made to us by delinquent homeowners before a lawsuit is filed;
5. Provide verification of debt letters when requested by delinquent homeowners;
6. Respond to phone calls from delinquent homeowners regarding their account before a lawsuit is filed;
7. At your direction, negotiate payment arrangements with delinquent homeowners before a lawsuit is filed.

Fixed, Flat Rate Legal Fees For Collections Lawsuits

Included as part of the retainer agreement, Gaddis And Lanier Law offers our retainer clients certain litigation services on a flat rate basis. This allows an association to budget for legal fees in a given year without being surprised by litigation costs. We will provide litigation collection services as follows:

• (a) Magistrate Court. We will file collection lawsuits in the local magistrate for a flat, fixed rate of $950, including court filing fee and sheriff's service fee. The $950 fee must be paid by the Association in full upon the authorization to file suit. Cases requiring a private process server will be subject to the process server's actual costs. Cases appealed from Magistrate Court will be billed at our hourly rates.
• (b) All Other Courts. We also provide legal services in all other courts in Georgia. Cases will be billed at our hourly rates or fixed flat rates, based on the case.

Any services not listed above will be billed at the reduced, hourly billable rates for our retainer clients as described herein. All costs as outlined above will be billed to the Association monthly.