1.  Providing the Case Information
2. Selecting the Fee Method That Suits You Best
3. The Cost and Expense Deposit

We receive most of our new cases by mail, email or fax and we are pleased to begin your case quickly. The steps to have us start a collection action for you are as follows:

1. Providing the Case Information
To start a new case, we request the relevant documents that support your claim. For example, if the collection is on a promissory note, of course a copy of the note is required, together with a past payment history. If the collection is for goods or services sold and unpaid, we request a copy of any contract or agreement and the statement or account information. If there is a credit application, engagement letter, purchase order or similar document, you should put that with the package. We frequently request copies of the invoices or billings and delivery receipts (if any for goods).
Basically you should plan to send anything you think would be relevant to the proof that the debtor got your money, goods, services or otherwise owes you the money. We also like to receive a brief statement of what happened. This can be a simple handwritten note or paragraph that describes the facts and explains the debt. Nothing formal is required but the best descriptions supplement and amplify the documents.

We also like to receive any information available about the debtor. We like to know where they are, who they are, any other names used, current addresses and phone numbers, social security numbers of individuals (if known-used to retrieve credit reports). For businesses we like to know details like who the principals are, where they live, what the nature of the business is and if there are any disputes about the debt.

Any past information, such as previous checks, correspondence, telephone logs, prior dealings, other vendors, etc are helpful. Of course we also need information about you so we can properly identify you in any legal documents. Your correct full name, address, phone, fax and pertinent facts about you are necessary. If you are a business, we will need the correct entity status (corporation and state of incorporation or if partnership, the state and general partners).

In beginning your collection, we formulate a collection plan for each case and try to construct a profile of each debtor and identify their weaknesses. The information you provide and our investigation form the backbone of our collection plan and any assistance you can provide increases the speed and efficiency of handling your case.

Many of your questions about the success of collection action are answered in our Frequently Asked Questions pages.

After we have accepted your case, we will call  and conduct a phone interview to determine the full facts and what other evidence, documents or witnesses are available to support your claim.

2. Selecting the Fee Method That Suits You Best

You may select one of the fee types we offer. Review the topic of Contingent Fee or Hourly Fee to make a selection. If you decide to select one of the contingent fee (percentage) agreements, you will want to review the topic of About Costs so you will be comfortable with the court costs that must be spent to pursue your collection.

After you have made a selection between Contingent Fee or Hourly Fee, you may retrieve the appropriate fee agreement from among these pages. We offer several types of collection alternatives.

If your case involves a collection which has not yet begun against a California resident debtor, and you select a percentage or contingent fee, please review our Contingent Fee Retainer Agreement Prejudgment. Alternatively you may wish to consider our Hourly Fee Retainer Agreement. Hourly fees are rarely appropriate on smaller cases as discussed in the topic of Contingent Fee or Hourly Fee.

3. Cost and Expense Deposit

There are no charges for any legal services on contingent fee cases, however, the costs and expenses of a new case are the client's responsibility.

For fresh collection cases, we require a cost deposit of $500.00. On Post Judgment cases, we require a cost deposit of $250.00.

Filing Fees, Service of Process, Record Search

The filing fee for cases is about $400-$425 and the service of process costs are about $55-$65 for each defendant. A search of all public records available is $25.00. 

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