Guide · LitigationExpert Witness Fees.

Nearly all expert witnesses bill for time. The rate is only the starting point: the engagement terms decide what a case actually costs. Published data on expert fees is thin, and most of it comes from surveys of experts themselves. The most widely cited is SEAK’s survey, whose 2024 edition drew responses from more than 1,600 expert witnesses across specialties.¹

Source: SEAK 2024 Survey of Expert Witness Fees, all responding experts¹.

Read those figures with care. They are medians across every field that responded, including medical experts, so they are a reference point, not a market rate for forensic accountants or fraud examiners. The same survey found that 64% of responding experts require retaining counsel to sign a retention agreement and 68% had raised their rates in the previous five years.¹

Beyond the hourly rate, SEAK’s fee study describes the terms that shape the bill: minimum charges for depositions and trial days, policies that keep part of the fee when testimony is cancelled late, travel billed portal to portal, up-front retainers, and pass-through expenses, some of them marked up.² Exhibit 1 summarizes the common terms and the question to ask about each.

Fee term	What it covers	What to ask
Hourly rate for analysis	Record review, analysis, research and drafting	Does the rate differ by staff level? Who does the work, and at what rate?
Testimony rate	Deposition and trial testimony, sometimes at a higher rate than analysis	Is preparation billed at the analysis rate or the testimony rate?
Retainer	An advance payment applied against invoices, or held until the end	Is it refundable? Is it replenished? When is it applied?
Minimum charge	A minimum block of time for a deposition or trial day	Does the minimum apply if the deposition ends early?
Cancellation term	A fee kept if a scheduled deposition or trial day is cancelled late	How much notice avoids the charge?
Travel	Travel time (often portal to portal) and expenses	Is travel time billed at full rate? What expenses are passed through, and at cost?
Expenses	Records, data services, copies, exhibits	Are expenses billed at cost or marked up?

Terms differ between experts and engagements. FES does not publish its fees; ask any expert for written terms before records are sent.

Source: SEAK fee survey and fee study¹².

Separate testimony rates are common: SEAK’s fee study reports that the average hourly fee for trial testimony runs about half again higher than the average for file review and preparation.² Whether preparation for a deposition is billed at the testimony rate or the lower analysis rate is a term worth settling in writing. For how these terms add up across a whole forensic engagement, see our guide on how much a forensic accountant costs.

Often, at least in part, if the case is in Florida state court and the procedural conditions are met. Three sources answer the question together.

The statute

Section 92.231(2) provides that any expert or skilled witness who has testified in a cause shall be allowed a witness fee, including the cost of any exhibits the witness used, and that the fee shall be taxed as costs.⁵ Section 57.071(2) then sets a condition for most civil cases: expert witness fees may not be awarded as taxable costs unless the retaining party furnishes each opposing party a written report, signed by the expert, summarizing the opinions and their factual basis, including the documentary evidence and authorities relied upon. The report must be filed at least 5 days before the expert’s deposition or 20 days before the discovery cutoff, whichever is sooner, or as the court orders. The condition does not apply in actions under the Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure.⁶

The Statewide Uniform Guidelines

The Statewide Uniform Guidelines for Taxation of Costs in Civil Actions, published with the civil rules, are advisory; taxation is within the trial court’s broad discretion, and the moving party must show each cost was reasonably necessary when incurred.⁴ Within that frame they sort expert costs into three groups:⁴

• Should be taxed: a reasonable fee for deposition or court testimony, and the cost of preparing any court-ordered report.
• May be taxed: a testifying expert’s reasonable fee for examinations, investigations, tests, research and preparing reports, and for preparing for deposition or trial; and reasonable travel expenses (not time) when the expert travels more than 100 miles from the expert’s principal place of business.
• Should not be taxed: any expenses relating to consulting but non-testifying experts, and expert travel time.

Divorce cases

In a Florida dissolution case the question is usually not taxable costs but section 61.16, which allows the court, after considering both parties’ financial resources, to order a party to pay a reasonable amount for attorney’s fees, suit money and the cost to the other party of maintaining or defending the proceeding.⁹ Whether part of a forensic accountant’s fee is shifted is for the judge. Our guide to forensic accountant costs covers this in more detail.

The hourly rate matters less than the hours. For financial experts, the number of hours is driven by a short list of factors:

• The question. A focused question, such as whether a specific set of transfers went to the other spouse’s business, takes far less time than an open-ended review of everything.
• Record volume and condition. Complete, organized statements cost less to analyze than scanned images, missing months or records that must be subpoenaed.
• Entities and accounts. Each additional business, trust or account adds reconciliation work, especially when money moves between them.
• Opposing experts. Reviewing and rebutting another expert’s report is a separate body of work.
• Testimony. A written report, a deposition and a trial each add preparation as well as testimony time.

Those drivers are why a responsible expert gives a phased estimate rather than a single number before seeing the records. Knowing what a forensic accountant actually does in each phase helps you judge an estimate; our guide on what a forensic accountant does walks through the work. For an illustration of how much record-level analysis a contested financial case can require, see our case study on the forensic accounting evidence in the FTX prosecution.