Deferred Collections Program:
- Demand/Warning of Suit letter
- Preparation & Filing of lien
- Ownership Verification
- Follow-up collection letters
- 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 & 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 $225 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 $50 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.
- 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
- Prepare and send customized collection letters to all delinquent owners of record per account
- Prepare and file a lien against the property
- Provide verification of debt letters when requested by delinquent homeowners
- Respond to phone calls from delinquent homeowners regarding their account before a lawsuit is filed
- 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 & 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:
Any court appearances which require more than two (2) hours, wand any additional work outside of the preparation and fling of the lawsuit and attendance at the hearing for up to two (2) hours shall be billed at our standard reduced hourly rate for retainer clients. The $975 fee must be paid by the Association in full upon the authorization to file suit.
Cases appealed or transferred from Magistrate Court will be billed at our reduced, retainer client hourly rates. Consent agreements and negotiated payment plans administered by our office will incur the same charge as pre-suit set forth in Paragraph 6 above.
(b) All Other Courts. We also provide legal services in all other courts in Georgia. Cases may be billed hourly, or fixed flat rates may be applied upon agreement of the parties on a case by case basis. 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.
