Matrimonial Cost and Fee Structure
The cost of a matrimonial vocational engagement depends on the work the assessment requires for each party assessed, from the records review and the evaluation to the report and any testimony. Scope dominates: whether the assignment covers one party or both, and whether it asks about employability alone or earning capacity as well, sets the records, the interview and the labor market work that follow. Counsel controls that scope, the records sent at the outset, and the court dates the assessment must meet.
Scope and estimate
Matrimonial vocational assessments are scoped to the issues in the proceeding. KWVRS provides a written fee schedule and a cost estimate before work begins.
What drives cost
- Scope of the assignment, whether employability, earning capacity, or both parties
- Whether a vocational interview and standardized testing are required
- Volume of employment, education, and financial records to review
- Need for a labor market survey specific to the jurisdiction
- Coordination with the court schedule and case management deadlines
- Deposition and trial testimony, including preparation and travel time
Billing structure
Counsel receives a written fee schedule and an estimate for the requested scope before any work begins, and the engagement agreement sets the fee and its payment terms.
Questions about matrimonial cost and fee structure
What drives the cost of a matrimonial vocational assessment?
Scope, first: an assessment of both parties is two evaluations, and a question of earning capacity adds a labor market survey and wage research to the employability analysis. The volume of employment, education and financial records comes next, then whether a vocational interview and standardized testing are needed, and whether the survey has to be specific to the jurisdiction where the party would work.
How are the fee and payment terms of a matrimonial vocational engagement set?
In the engagement agreement that retaining counsel signs, which sets the fee for the scope requested and its payment terms and is the same whichever party retains the assessment. Work added after engagement, such as an assessment of the other party or a review of an opposing report, falls outside that scope and is priced separately.
Does KWVRS provide a cost estimate before a matrimonial vocational engagement begins?
Yes, once the questions asked are known, since an employability question and an earning capacity question are scoped differently. Send the education, employment and financial records that bear on vocational capacity and earning history, medical documentation of any restriction claimed, a statement of whether the assignment covers one party or both, and the court schedule and case management deadlines the report must meet.
Does deposition or trial testimony add to the cost of a matrimonial vocational engagement?
Yes. Testimony is priced on the fee schedule apart from the assessment, and in a matrimonial matter the appearance is placed against the court schedule and case management deadlines, so preparation covers the occupations identified, the openings and wages found, and the line between the vocational opinion and the court's determination on imputed income. A supplemental opinion on newly produced financial or employment records is priced separately.
Does assessing both parties change the cost of a matrimonial vocational engagement?
Each party is a separate evaluation, so the scope is settled and priced at engagement: each party's employability and earning capacity has its own records, its own interview and testing where needed, and its own labor market analysis for the area where that party would work. The report can address both parties in one document, but the analysis behind each opinion is done in full.
Related reading
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