Forensic Fees, Subpoenas, Request for Records & Appearing in Court

Alliance Counseling Center and The Center at Heron Hill is an outpatient behavioral health organization that provides essential mental health services to vulnerable children, youth, adults, and families. Requests requiring therapist participation in legal proceedings—including subpoenas, depositions, court appearances, testimony, attorney consultations, document certification, or preparation related to litigation—result in substantial disruption to clinical operations, cancellation of scheduled client care, loss of professional income, and interruption of medically necessary mental health services for other clients.

Our clinicians are mental health professionals whose schedules are reserved for direct patient care. Time diverted to legal matters is professional time that cannot be replaced or recovered. Accordingly, participation in any legal proceeding is considered a professional service requiring advance financial compensation.

Alliance Counseling Center does not donate, volunteer, or subsidize professional time for legal matters initiated by attorneys, courts, parties to litigation, guardians, or outside agencies. Receipt of a subpoena does not waive the agency’s right to require reasonable compensation for professional time, preparation, consultation, scheduling disruption, travel, records review, or court participation.

As a condition of participation in any legal matter, all retainer fees must be paid in advance and received no later than seventy-two (72) hours prior to the requested appearance date and time. Failure to remit payment within this timeframe may result in the clinician being unavailable for the requested appearance, consultation, certification, or testimony.

Any request requiring a clinician to reserve more than three (3) hours of availability, cancel scheduled clients, travel for legal proceedings, remain on standby, or appear in court will require a minimum non-refundable retainer of $350, due in advance. This retainer compensates for blocked clinical scheduling, disruption of patient services, administrative coordination, and professional time reserved exclusively for the legal matter.

If a hearing, deposition, or appearance is cancelled, continued, reset, or withdrawn with less than seventy-two (72) business hours’ notice, the minimum appearance fee remains due and non-refundable due to the inability to refill cancelled clinical appointments and the operational losses incurred by the agency.

If legal counsel, a third party, or the requesting party refuses payment, responsibility for all outstanding legal-service fees shall transfer to the client and/or financial guarantor on file with the agency. The client or guarantor may independently pursue reimbursement from the requesting legal party if desired.

All subpoenas, legal notices, and requests for testimony are reviewed by legal counsel and administrative leadership prior to clinician participation. Alliance Counseling Center reserves the right to object to, limit, or decline participation in legal matters that fall outside the scope of treatment, create conflicts with ethical obligations, interfere with clinical care, or place unreasonable demands upon agency operations.

Fee Schedule

$132.00 per hour ($33.00 per 15-minute increment) for:

• Attorney consultations
• Phone calls related to legal matters
• Depositions
• Court testimony
• Time spent preparing for testimony
• Records review related to litigation
• Filing or certifying documents
• Virtual appearances
• Time away from clinical duties
• Administrative coordination regarding subpoenas or court matters

Minimum Court Appearance / Reserved Availability Fee: $350.00

Express / Rush Scheduling Fee (less than 48-hour notice): Additional $250.00

Rescheduling Fee with Less Than 72 Business-Hours Notice: $350.00

Out-of-State Travel: $30 per day plus mileage reimbursement pursuant to applicable law, including ORS 44.415.

 

PLEASE NOTE:
A minimum retainer of $350 must be received no later than seventy-two (72) hours prior to the scheduled legal proceeding, appearance, deposition, or testimony. No clinician time will be reserved until payment arrangements have been completed and confirmed.

 

When it comes to requests to be involved in family law cases, it is well known that high conflict divorce and custody cases can be rather complex to navigate. In most situations, emotions run high as parents negotiate what custody arrangements will look like. Many times, lawyers or defenders may think it is a good idea to request that a child’s therapist testify in family law and custody cases. This is especially true if they feel that the therapist’s testimony could be helpful, resulting in a favorable outcome. However, it is important to know that such requests may not prove helpful at all and may actually be a detriment to the case itself, resulting in unfavorable outcomes. Our therapists are not family therapists, forensic therapists  and are not expert witnesses, they are here to provide mental health support to your child. It is important to understand that the therapist’s client is the child, not the parent(s). As such, the therapist will only respond to questions relating to the mental health treatment of the child and will not get involved in making parental or guardianship recommendations and has no basis to make comments on parenting observations. For this, parents or guardians should consider hiring a professional parenting evaluator or trained family forensics specialist who is trained in such issues.

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Regarding Requests for Records by Non-Custodial Parents

At Alliance Counseling Center, we recognize that both parents often wish to be involved in their child’s care, particularly during times of emotional or behavioral concern. However, as providers of mental health services to minors, our primary responsibility is to act in the best interest of the child while adhering to state and federal laws that govern parental rights and the confidentiality of medical records. Under ORS 109.640 and ORS 179.505, non-custodial parents may generally have the legal right to access their child’s medical and mental health records, unless releasing those records is deemed to be potentially harmful to the child’s emotional or psychological well-being, or not in the child’s best interest. This determination is made based on the clinical judgment of the treating provider and in consultation with the treatment team and legal/ethical standards. In high-conflict custody situations, record requests from non-custodial parents must be carefully evaluated. Releasing sensitive information—such as therapy notes, diagnoses, or progress reports—can at times place the child in the middle of adult conflict, disrupt the therapeutic process, or result in unintended emotional harm. In such cases, we may decline to release records to a non-custodial parent if doing so would compromise the child’s treatment or safety. These decisions are not made lightly and are guided by both legal requirements and ethical considerations.

Additionally, it is the policy of this agency to notify the primary parent or guardian listed on the account—or the parent or guardian who initiated care coordination for the minor child— whenever a request for records is made. This is to ensure transparency, continuity of care, and the protection of the minor’s therapeutic relationship.

It is also important to note that our therapists serve the child as the client—not the parent(s). While we respect the rights of both parents, our focus remains on safeguarding the minor’s emotional well-being and therapeutic progress.

If a non-custodial parent is seeking access to information or involvement in care, we encourage communication with the custodial parent or legal guardian and, if appropriate, may consider coordinating a joint conversation or providing general information about services being received—so long as it is clinically appropriate, legally permitted, and in the best interest of the child. We appreciate your understanding as we navigate these sensitive matters with care and professionalism.

 

Compensation

​​​As with professionals in law, medical and mental health fields, there is an expectation to be compensated for the time lost or the time in which we are focusing on a single client’s legal needs. While many law firms will cite various reasons in which to try to escape compensation for time and resources lost against a therapist’s time, it is the policy of Alliance Counseling and The Center at Heron Hill to make aware that fees are required up front to be involved in legal proceedings involving clients. Additionally, if the subpoena comes from an alternative party who is not our client but is involved in the case, and they refuse compensation or reimbursement, unfortunately the responsibility then becomes that of the client and or their financial guarantor that is listed on the account with our agency and is up to them (you) to seek reimbursement from the other party. The hourly rate charged is the same rate that insurance companies allow therapists to be reimbursed for Case Management and or Case Coordination. Unfortunately, insurance companies do not reimburse for legal fees and therefore these fees cannot be billed to your medical insurance company and they are strictly out of pocket costs.

The fee schedule is as follows for reasonable compensation of time and income lost due to request to appear for legal proceedings:

 

$33.00 per every 15 minutes or $132.00 per hour includes:

 

Phone calls

Depositions

Time required in giving testimony

Time away from office due to depositions or testimony

Filing a document with the court

In-person certification of paper records

 

The minimum charge for cancelling a full day of clients (or any request to be available for more than 3 hours on any particular day) or to travel to appear in-person for any legal need is $350.00. To avoid this charge, a therapist needs to be notified of any cancellation of in-person requirements at least 72 hours in advance.

 

There is no charge for documents to be sent electronically so long as we are not being required to participate in virtual appearance to certify documents. We charge $33.00 per every 15 minutes of our time to participate in virtual certification of documents. We follow the fee schedule(s) above plus any mileage fees if being required to certify documents in person. All subpoenas are reviewed by our legal team.

 

The minimum charge for a court appearance is $350. This charge remains if in-person requirement is cancelled within less than 72 hours.

 

Mileage: $30 a day plus .25 cents per mile if out of state  ORS 44.415 – Fees and mileage of witnesses (public.law)

 

PLEASE NOTE: A retainer of $350 is due in advance

 

If a subpoena or notice to meet attorney(s) is received without a minimum of 48-hour notice there will be an additional $250 “express” charge.

 

If the case is reset with notice of less than 72 business-hours, the client will be charged $350 (in addition to the retainer of $350). All fees are doubled if the therapist has to postpone or interrupt plans to go out of town

 

CHARGE TO REQUEST MEDICAL RECORDS

A health care provider or state health plan that receives an authorization to disclose protected health information may charge:

(1)

(a) No more than $30 for copying 10 or fewer pages of written material, no more than 50 cents per page for pages 11 through 50 and no more than 25 cents for each additional page; and

(b)

A bonus charge of $5 if the request for records is processed and the records are mailed by first class mail to the requester within seven business days after the date of the request;

(2)

Postage costs to mail copies of protected health information or an explanation or summary of protected health information, if requested by an individual or a personal representative of the individual; and

(3)

Actual costs of preparing an explanation or summary of protected health information, if requested by an individual or a personal representative of the individual. [Formerly 192.521]

ORS 192.563 – Health care provider and state health plan charges (public.law)

Letters:

The Therapist does not provide disability letters, companion pet letters, or letters regarding your ability to work, or any letters that would inform providers of your mental health history. You must discuss these needs with your medical or primary care provider. If a letter is required attesting the client’s needs, the therapist will provide it for a fee of $35 per one-page letter and $25 for each additional page. Letters are only provided to clients who have been seen for 8 sessions or longer.

 

If you wish to continue with a Subpoena request, please fax to 1-866-485-6741. If the legal party initiating the subpoena at any time refuses payment, the clients account will be charged and fees will be collected for these services.