Contingency Fee Calculator
Compute the take-home settlement after attorney contingency fee, case costs (filing fees, deposition transcripts, expert witnesses, exhibits), lien obligations (Medicare conditional payments, Medicaid recovery, ERISA-plan reimbursement, hospital liens, workers' compensation offset), and tax treatment under IRC §104(a)(2). Standard contingency rates are 33⅓% pre-litigation, 40% post-filing, and 45% post-appeal — but each state has caps and adjustments. Florida caps medical-malpractice contingency at 33⅓% under Rule Regulating the Florida Bar 4-1.5(f)(4)(B); California limits medical malpractice fees under Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §6146 with a sliding scale; ABA Model Rule 1.5 governs reasonableness across all jurisdictions. The take-home figure most online calculators show ignores liens — and liens often consume 20–40% of what's left after attorney fees + costs. This estimator surfaces all four components.
on a $100,000 fee base
share of the gross recovery
reimbursed expenses
third-party claims
The dark bar is the gross recovery. Each ember bar is a deduction — attorney fee, then case costs, then liens — floating at the running balance. The final bar is what the client keeps (green), or the shortfall (red) if deductions exceed the recovery.
View the TypeScript implementation on GitHub: packages/calc/src/contingency-fee-calculator.ts · view tests
What this means
The number that matters at the end of a case is not the headline settlement — it is what reaches the client’s pocket after the attorney fee, the reimbursed case costs, and the third-party liens are all settled. A $100,000 settlement and a $100,000 take-home are very different things, and the gap between them is exactly what this estimator makes visible. It walks your own numbers through the same arithmetic a disbursement statement does; it does not predict what a case is worth, and it is not legal advice.
The single subtlety worth understanding is the fee base. Some retainers take the contingency percentage on the entire gross recovery and reimburse case costs separately; others remove case costs first and apply the percentage only to what remains. Same gross, same percentage, same costs — but the costs-before-fee convention shrinks the base, so the fee is smaller and the client keeps more. In my experience this clause is the most overlooked line in a retainer, and the toggle here exists so you can see, in dollars, what it is worth.
I’ve found that liens are where take-home estimates most often go wrong, because most online calculators stop at the fee. Medicare, Medicaid, ERISA health plans, and hospital liens all have a claim on the proceeds, and they can consume a large share of what is left after fees and costs. I’ve seen a clean-looking settlement net out to almost nothing once the liens were counted — which is why this tool shows a negative net rather than hiding it behind a comforting zero. A negative result is not an error; it is the signal that the liens need to be negotiated down before the deal can close, work a licensed attorney handles. Whether any settlement is right for you is a decision for you and your attorney, not for a calculator.
Worked example
Take a $100,000 settlement with a 33⅓% contingency, $5,000 in case costs, and $10,000 in liens. With the fee computed on the gross(the common default), the attorney fee is $100,000 × 0.3333 = $33,330. Take-home is $100,000 − $33,330 − $5,000 − $10,000 = $51,670 — about 51.7% of the recovery. The effective fee here equals the nominal rate, 33.33%, because the base was the whole recovery.
Now flip the retainer to costs before the fee. The base becomes $100,000 − $5,000 = $95,000, so the fee is $95,000 × 0.3333 = $31,663.50— about $1,667 less. Take-home rises to $100,000 − $31,663.50 − $5,000 − $10,000 = $53,336.50, and the effective fee drops to 31.66%of the gross even though the contracted rate never changed. I’ve seen that single clause swing a take-home by thousands of dollars on a mid-size case — which is exactly why it is worth reading the retainer closely and, on any consequential settlement, asking a licensed attorney how the costs term applies to your matter.
Frequently asked questions
The information and tools on this website are for general educational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. Consult a licensed professional for decisions specific to your situation.