Summons is a document that commences a legal action. You have to act very quickly by defending the action or by arranging to settle the dispute. You can either get an attorney to help you on what to do or if you want to defend yourself without a lawyer, you can go to court written on the summons and ask an advice from the clerk or registrar of the civil court.

Attorneys charge differently, you must ask for a quote for the specific attorney .the quote is based on the nature of work you need to be done. Generally, an attorney can charge you anything between R500 to R3000 per hour, depending on his seniority. If an attorney has to use an advocate, expect to pay an upfront deposit of between R10 000 to R50 000 or more. This will depend on the complexity of the matter and the seniority of the advocate to be used.

Indeed, legal service is one of the most expensive professional services. This is a global problem. It is also expensive to study and train to be a lawyer. Moreover , it is more expensive to run a law firm due to certain standards and requirements that one has to meet to operate a law firm. Maybe things will change in future as the State is working on what is currently known as Legal Practice bill, which will hopefully make legal services accessible to all, as other categories of professionals and semi-professionals, other than attorneys or advocates, will be allowed to represent clients just like attorneys and advocates.

You have an obligation to pay the legal fees, however, there is a plan to cover certain people who have financial challenges, it’s called contingency plan. The contingency plan is used by lawyers to represent clients on condition that the lawyer will on successful completion of the matter in which there is a compensation or payment, deduct a certain percentage agreed on from the money, compensation or payment received. Some attorneys do this; others do not. In most instances, you will have to meet certain criteria to qualify for this plan. Please ask your lawyer for more information.