The most cost-effective ways of resolving your dispute tend to be those that are least contentious such as Mediation and Collaborative Practice.
Court tends to be the most expensive which is why I generally steer clients away from court. I charge for time based on an hourly rate. I am also prepared to consider offering fixed fees for discrete pieces of work which provides you with certainty.
Sometimes all you need is reassurance and an overview as to the rights and obligations you have in terms of the law. Especially when dealing with delicate issues such as child custody. That advice can normally be delivered in a one-hour first meeting. I also recognise that choosing the right family lawyer is important and that you need to be sure that I am right for you. I am therefore pleased to offer an initial meeting fixed fee package for £295.00 + VAT at 20% + £10 client identification fee for up to 75 minutes.
What you get
A detailed consultation (of up to one hour fifteen minutes)
During the consultation I will obtain details from you to enable me to understand your objectives. I can then offer straightforward legal advice tailored to you and your family. I will discuss with you what we think you need to do next in order to reach your objectives.
I will provide details of the cost of future services should you decide to instruct me to assist you further with your family law situation including further fixed fee packages.
Simplified Procedure Divorce / Dissolution of Civil Partnership.
A simplified divorce procedure may be appropriate only where there are no outstanding financial matters to resolve between the parties and there are no children of the marriage or civil partnership under 16 years of age.
Initial meeting
We will first meet with you to consider and discuss if the simplified procedure is appropriate for your case. This may require us to gather information so we can be sure that the simplified procedure is appropriate.
For this first meeting our fixed fee will be £295 exclusive of VAT at 20%.which will be charged in addition.
Our fixed price includes:
- Meeting with you, taking instructions and providing advice on the simplified divorce procedure
- Collecting information from you about your position, your finances and family circumstances
- Assessing if simplified procedure is appropriate in your case and advising you on next steps
Where the simplified procedure divorce / dissolution of civil partnership is appropriate
If the simplified procedure is appropriate, then our fixed fee for completing a simplified divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership will be:
- £ 350.00 exclusive of VAT at 20% VAT will be charged in addition at a rate of 20%. This excludes outlays (fees which may need to be paid to third parties) and will be charged in addition to the fee for the initial meeting above.
The outlays will include:
- Court fees: These increase annually and depend on the court in which your application is lodged. As a guide this is under £150.00 with no VAT on court fees for all courts.
- Service fees: Service by sheriff officer, where service by recorded delivery has not been possible. These fees are dependent on whether the matter is time critical and the geographical location of the other party on whom we are attempting service.
Our fixed price includes:
- completing the application to the court and arranging for you to sign it
- notarising the application to court
- lodging application and any supporting documents with the court
Note: This fixed price will only cover the services mentioned. Your case may require additional work that is not included. We will discuss this with you at our initial meeting. If additional costs arise due to unforeseen or special circumstances, we will discuss this with you at the earliest opportunity and we will advise you of any increase in price that may arise. Examples could be service on a party abroad, service on a next of kin where the whereabouts of the defender are unknown.
Divorce – / dissolution of civil partnership where you have children under 16
This procedure may be appropriate only where there are no outstanding financial matters to resolve between the parties and you have children of the marriage or civil partnership under 16 years of age. You will therefore likely already entered into a separation agreement re-division of your assets or have no property to divide.
Initial meeting
We will first meet with you to consider and discuss if this procedure is appropriate for your case. This may require us to gather information so we can be sure that proceeding this way is appropriate.
For this first meeting our fixed fee will be £295.00 exclusive of VAT at 20%.which will be charged in addition.
Our fixed price includes:
- Meeting with you, taking instructions and providing advice on the simplified divorce procedure
- Collecting information from you about your position, your finances and family circumstances
- Assessing if this procedure is appropriate in your case and advising you on next steps
Where this divorce / dissolution of civil partnership is appropriate
Our fixed fee for completing a divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership where financial issues have already been resolved and you seek no orders save for divorce / dissolution will be:
- £ 1500.00 exclusive of VAT at 20%. VAT will be charged in addition at a rate of 20%. This excludes outlays (fees which may need to be paid to third parties) and will be charged in addition to the fee for the initial meeting above.
The outlays will include:
- Court fees: These increase annually and depend on the court in which your application is lodged. As a guide this is circa £200.00 with no VAT on court fees for all courts.
- Service fees: Service by sheriff officer, where service by recorded delivery has not been possible. These fees are dependent on whether the matter is time critical and the geographical location of the other party on whom we are attempting service.
Our fixed price includes:
- Drafting a writ or summons as appropriate and lodging it in court.
- Arranging service of the writ or summons on the other party.
- Taking statements from you and your witness prior to the writ being lodged in court re period of separation, grounds for divorce and care arrangements for the children.
- Drafting affidavits for you and your witness
- Notarising affidavits
- Drafting a minute for decree
- Lodging the minute for decree, affidavits and any other supporting documents with the court
- Sending you extract decree of divorce for your safekeeping.
Note: This fixed price will only cover the services mentioned. Your case may require additional work that is not included. We will discuss this with you at our initial meeting. If additional costs arise due to unforeseen or special circumstances, we will discuss this with you at the earliest opportunity and we will advise you of any increase in price that may arise. Examples could be service on a party abroad, service on a next of kin where the whereabouts of the defender are unknown or service by newspaper advertisement.
Please also note that in some circumstances the other party may decide to defend the action. In some other instances the court may insist on a hearing especially if there are issues with service or the court requires further information re-care arrangements for children. In that instance the fixed fee quote will no longer apply and you will be charged the fee earner’s hourly rate. Details of which you will find in the next section below. Please note only solicitors can appear in court and if proceedings have been raised in the Court of Session an Advocate will be instructed to appear which will be an additional cost. Advocates fees will be charged as an outlay and attract VAT@20%.
Hourly Rates
Depending on the nature and complexity of your legal matter, the legal work undertaken by us may be completed by one or several members of our legal team. Below we have set out the hourly charging rates for each of our fee earners.
We do not offer a free initial consultation however we do offer a fixed fee package for initial meetings the terms of which are detailed separately at the top of this page.
Thereafter if you decide to become a client of the firm you will be charged an hourly rate as follows:
Fee earner Hourly charging rate (excluding VAT)
Solicitor Partner £350. 00*
Paralegal £175.00*
Travelling rate for all fee earners £ hourly rate*
* The hourly charge stated does not include VAT which is charged in addition at 20%
The number of hours spent on your case will be determined by the complexity and the unique circumstances of your case. We will discuss the likely cost of your case with you at our initial meeting. If additional costs arise due to unforeseen circumstances, we will discuss this with you at the earliest opportunity and we will advise you of any increase in cost that may arise.
The hourly rate does not include any outlays that may be required. These are variable depending on the nature of the case. We will discuss what these may be at our initial meeting.
