Client guide · Small Business
What a retainer really is, and where your money sits
A retainer is not a price and not a payment. It is a deposit you place with a lawyer, held in a trust account, that stays your money until the work is done and billed against it. Understanding that one distinction changes how the whole relationship reads.
G.1 The word does two jobs
The word retainer gets used two ways, which is where the confusion starts. Sometimes it means the act of hiring a lawyer, as in you retain them. Sometimes it means the sum of money you put down at the start. This guide is about the money.
When you place a retainer, you are not paying for a defined thing yet. You are funding an account the lawyer will draw from as they earn it. Until they earn it, the money is still yours.
G.2 Where the money actually sits
Retainer funds go into a trust account, which is legally separate from the firm's own operating account. Law society rules in BC are strict about that separation, and the money cannot be treated as the firm's until it has been billed.
The separation is the whole point. It means the deposit is protected, tracked, and accountable, and it cannot quietly become the firm's revenue before the work is done.
G.3 How fees are drawn against it
The firm does the work, then produces an itemized statement of account showing what was done, by whom, for how long, and what it cost. Only then are fees moved out of trust to pay that bill.
You see the statement each time it happens, so the balance is never a black box. If the retainer runs low on an ongoing matter, you are asked to top it up before more work continues, not billed by surprise.
G.4 Flat fee, hourly, and when a retainer even applies
Not every matter needs a retainer. Flat-fee work, like a conveyance or a simple will, is quoted as one number and often billed on completion, so there may be nothing to hold in trust at all. Our flat fees are set out on the published fee schedule.
Retainers are more common on hourly matters, where the total is not knowable at the start: a dispute, a negotiation, an estate that turns complicated. There the deposit funds the work as it unfolds and is reconciled against the real time spent.
G.5 Getting the balance back
When the matter concludes, any money left in trust is returned to you. It was never the firm's to keep. A retainer is a floor for the work, not a fee for it, and the difference comes back.
If you ever want to know where your retainer stands mid-matter, you are entitled to ask and to get a straight answer. It is your money in a separate account, and good billing practice treats it exactly that way.
G.6 Questions people actually ask
- Is a retainer the same as the total cost of my matter?
- No. A retainer is a deposit, not a quote. On an hourly matter the final cost depends on the time the work actually takes, and the retainer simply funds that work as it happens. If the matter costs less than the deposit, the balance is returned; if it costs more, you are asked to top it up before the work continues.
- Can a firm spend my retainer before doing the work?
- No. In BC, retainer funds sit in a trust account and remain yours until the firm delivers an itemized bill and draws against it. Moving money out of trust without an earned, itemized statement is a serious breach of law society rules, not ordinary practice. You should receive a statement each time fees are taken.
G.7 Related reading
- Do I need to incorporate? An honest answer
- Your first meeting with a lawyer: what to bring, what it costs
Small BusinessThe practice page this guide supports.
This guide is general information about BC, not legal advice about your situation. For that, the consultation is ten minutes and free.
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