(The Institute for Christian Conciliation (ICC) is the division of Peacemaker Ministries that coordinates our conciliation activities.)

Initial Review -- The ICC does not charge a fee to initially review a request for assistance to determine whether a dispute is appropriate for Christian conciliation.

Fees -- If the ICC goes beyond the initial review and agrees to become directly involved in a case, we generally charge an hourly fee for our conflict coaching, mediation, and arbitration services. This fee applies to any time we spend administering a case, talking to or meeting with the persons involved in a dispute, studying or drafting documents, conducting research, selecting a conciliation panel, arranging meeting times and locations, or conferring with conciliators.

Our staff conciliators normally charge $175/hr when working in Billings and $200/hr when working out-of-town. Case administration by our conciliation director will be billed at the rate of $150/hr and by our conciliation administrator at the rate of $60/hr. Fees for non-staff conciliators may vary and therefore may be set by a separate agreement.

Fees and costs are usually divided equally between the parties, unless agreed otherwise by the parties or determined otherwise through arbitration. The hourly fee applies to all of the time invested in a particular dispute, both before and after a fee agreement is signed. The minimum time billed for any activity is 0.1 hours (six minutes). Travel time is normally charged at half the full hourly rate.

Costs -- Parties are required to reimburse the ICC and the conciliators for any additional costs associated with a case, including long distance telephone calls, travel, written resources provided, and other out-of-pocket expenses.

Payments -- The party who initially requests our assistance is required to pay an advance, non-refundable filing fee of $200, which covers initial administrative expenses. If the other party in the dispute is unwilling to participate in conciliation, the initiating party is liable for all of the accrued fees and costs. If the parties agree to proceed with conciliation, they each shall promptly pay a retainer to cover the anticipated costs of conciliation, as determined by the ICC. Any portion of the retainer not used to pay fees and costs will be refunded.