CLIENT LIVING EXPENSE ADVANCE AND REPAYMENT AGREEMENT

Made Pursuant to Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct 1.08(a) and 1.08(d)

This Client Living Expense Advance and Repayment Agreement (this “Agreement”) is entered into effective , by and between Marsaw Legal & Consulting PLLC (the “Firm”), by and through its attorney Taren Marsaw, and (the “Client”), in connection with the Firm’s representation of the Client in their claim against arising from a on at the (the “Matter”).

Background

The Firm represents the Client in the Matter on a contingency-fee basis under a separate written fee agreement.

After the attorney-client relationship in the Matter was established, the Client contacted the Firm in writing and stated that client is experiencing a difficult financial situation, has urgent living expenses client is struggling to keep up with, and requested an advance against her expected settlement. The Firm is willing to make a modest advance for the Client’s reasonably necessary living expenses on the terms below. The parties therefore agree as follows:

1. The Advance

The Firm agrees to advance to the Client the sum of ($) (the “Advance”). The Advance will be paid from the Firm’s operating funds and not from any client trust (IOLTA) account. The Advance will be delivered by .

2. Purpose of the Advance

The Client has represented to the Firm that client is in a difficult financial situation with urgent expenses client is struggling to keep up with while the Matter is pending. The Client represents that the Advance will be used solely for reasonably necessary living expense(s): (e.g., rent, utilities, groceries, or transportation — specify before signing). The Advance is made in connection with the pending or contemplated litigation in the Matter, as permitted by Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 1.08(d).

3. Nature of the Advance

The Advance is a loan, not a gift, and not an attorney’s fee or a litigation or case expense. The Advance will not appear as a “case expense” on any settlement statement; if repaid from settlement proceeds, it will be separately itemized as “Client Living Expense Advance Repayment.”

4. No Interest or Fees

The Advance bears no interest, and the Firm will charge no fee, finance charge, or other cost of any kind in connection with the Advance. The total amount the Client will ever owe under this Agreement is exactly $, less any amounts repaid.

5. Repayment

The Client agrees to repay the Advance in full as follows:

(a) Primary source – recovery in the Matter. If the Matter results in a settlement, judgment, or other recovery, the Client authorizes and directs the Firm to deduct $500.00 from the Client’s net share of the recovery (after attorney’s fees and case expenses are calculated), once the funds have been received into the Firm’s trust account and the settlement accounting has been prepared. The deduction will be shown as a separate line item on the settlement disbursement statement.

(b) Secondary source – payment plan. If the Matter concludes without a recovery, or the Client’s net share of any recovery is insufficient to repay the Advance in full, the Client remains personally obligated to repay the unpaid balance and will do so in monthly installments of $ beginning on the first day of the second month after the Matter concludes, continuing until the Advance is repaid in full. The Client may prepay at any time without penalty. The Firm will not pursue collection remedies beyond this payment plan without first giving the Client written notice and thirty (30) days to cure.

6. No Effect on the Representation or the Client’s Rights

The Advance and this Agreement do not: (a) obligate the Client to accept or reject any settlement offer, which remains the Client’s decision alone; (b) obligate the Client to continue employing the Firm; (c) alter the Firm’s independent professional judgment or its duties of loyalty and confidentiality to the Client; or (d) give the Firm any ownership, security, or other proprietary interest in the Client’s claim or cause of action beyond the repayment right described in Section 5.

7. Business Transaction Disclosures Under Rule 1.08(a)

The Client acknowledges and agrees that:

(a) This Agreement is a business transaction between the Firm and the Client, and its terms have been fully disclosed to the Client in writing in this Agreement in a manner the Client can reasonably understand;

(b) The Firm has advised the Client, in writing, that it is desirable for the Client to seek the advice of independent legal counsel of the Client’s own choosing (at the Client’s expense) before signing this Agreement, and the Client has been given a reasonable opportunity to do so;

(d) By signing below, the Client consents in writing to the essential terms of this transaction and to the Firm’s role in it, including that the Firm is both the Client’s lawyer in the Matter and the lender under this Agreement, and that a lender-borrower relationship can involve interests different from, and potentially adverse to, the Client’s interests.

8. Not an Inducement

The Advance was requested by the Client, in her own words and at her own initiative, after the attorney-client relationship in the Matter was already established. It was not offered or promised by the Firm to obtain the Client’s employment of the Firm, and it is not a condition of continuing that employment.

9. Entire Agreement; Relationship to Fee Agreement

This Agreement is separate from, and does not amend, the parties’ fee agreement in the Matter. This Agreement contains the entire agreement of the parties regarding the Advance and may be amended only in a writing signed by both parties. This Agreement is governed by Texas law.

Client acknowledgment of independent-counsel advisory: I acknowledge that, before signing, the Firm advised me in writing that it is desirable for me to consult a lawyer of my own choosing, not affiliated with the Firm, about this Agreement, and that I was given a reasonable opportunity to do so.

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