Third-Party Payment of Legal Fees: Ethical and Practical Considerations

• Author: Eric M. Higgins, Sarah Gleason
• Pages: 32-35

32 FAMILY ADVOCATE www.shopaba.org

A

client lacks funds to

pay legal fees but

has a third party—

usually a parent or

other relative—who

is willing to help. Perhaps there

simply are not sucient assets in the

marital estate to pay the fees.

Perhaps the marital estate is illiquid.

Perhaps the client’s spouse controls

the money, so the client cannot

access it. For these clients, a white

knight willing to assist in paying

their legal fees is a blessing. And, the

nancial support is often but one

element of broader support,

including emotional support and

trusted advice, that the payor has

provided to the client before she

ever reaches your oce, and will

continue to provide throughout the

case. But despite the obvious

advantages to the client—and there

are obvious advantages—the

third-party payor arrangement is

inherently triangular and presents a

number of ethical, practical, and

strategic issues that family lawyers

must navigate.

ABA Model Rule of

Professional Conduct 1.8

e core principles governing the

third-party payment of legal fees are

expressed in Rule 1.8 of the ABA

Model Rules of Professional

Conduct. Rule 1.8 has been

adopted, with modications, in

every state except California, and

California’s rule is similar. Rule

1.8(f) provides that a lawyer shall

not accept compensation from a

third-party payor unless (1) the

client gives informed consent; (2)

there is no interference with the

lawyer’s independent professional

ird-Party Payment

of Legal Fees

Ethical and Practical

Considerations

By ERIC M. HIGGINS AND

SARAH GLEASON

Published in Family Advocate, Volume 42, Number 4, Spring 2020. © 2020 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof

may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.