Pay Now or Pay Later

“Pay Now or Pay Later” is a phrase that I assume has been around for centuries and in my lifetime I have seen it applied to almost every situation where someone was trying avoid spending any money or choose the cheaper alternative.

The situations range from choosing what brand of clothes to buy, to what food to eat, what car to drive, repair services for your house or car, and basically every service you can think of including legal services.

After 15+ years of working in different areas of litigation the common thread in most the cases that I see is that the individual or business whom now has to pay a big retainer because of a lawsuit they have to defend or a lawsuit that they have to file, is that it could all have been avoided by involving a lawyer from the inception.

Sometimes just the simple task of having a lawyer review or prepare the contract or even a simple consultation would have been enough to avoid the problem. The big deterrent to seeing a lawyer is the expense associated with it but most lawyers would work with you and not take advantage if you simply let them know your concern about the cost, at least that is how I, as well as my partners treat our clients. What could cost you a couple hundred dollars could turn into thousands of dollars in a blink of an eye.

Not to mention that dealing with a problem consumes individuals’ and businesses’ resources, not only financially but the time and stress that has to be dedicated to dealing with the problem. Another horrific error by clients is not just the fact of not seeing a lawyer when dealing with a situation, but not seeing a lawyer when they have actually received demand letters from lawyers or been served with a lawsuit. In my opinion that may be the most tragic “pay now or pay later” situation. Next time you are evaluating a situation or transaction whether individually or for your business, take the time to think about some worst case scenarios, then ask yourself. Should I go consult a lawyer? Pay now or pay later!

#PLSHelp © Gustavo A. Gutierrez, Esq.