Initial advice

If you do not qualify for Legal Aid we are able to offer up to one hour of legal advice on most Family matters for £100 plus vat to include writing to you to confirm our advice.

Proceedings relating to Care Proceedings

For any matters relating to your children and the Local Authority including Care proceeding, in most cases such matters qualify for free legal aid.

Will Writing

To advise upon the preparation of a straight forward Will, our charges are normally £180 for a single Will or £250 for a mirror Will plus vat.

For Wills to include a Life Interest Trust we will charge £253 for a single and £303 for a mirror Will plus vat.

For more complicated matters we are able in most cases to give you an indication of your likely charges upon your first appointment.

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Lasting Power of Attorney – Financial LPA and Health LPA

Our charges for completing and registering a Lasting Power of Attorney either for Financial matters or for Health matters will normally be £500 or for both type of LPA’s £600 plus vat.

For a couple making one (either Financial or Health) LPA each, we charge £600 plus vat or if you both types of LPA we charge £750 plus vat.

To register each LPA the Court fee is £82.

Probate

Unlike other businesses we do not charge a percentage of the estate for this service. Our charges are based upon our normal hourly rate (our charges guide).

We shall write to you after your first appointment to give a better idea of what will be required to wind up the Estate and the likely charges that will apply.

Domestic Conveyancing

Our charges for all forms of Conveyancing work are competitive (our charges guide).

Please contact Jane Coley at our Tamworth Office by telephone  01827 58333 or by email at  jane@davidjfostersolicitors.co.uk for a quotation

Or contact our branch office at Polesworth by telephone 01827 899059 or email reception@baxtersolicitors.co.uk for a quotation.

For all other forms of work, our normal charges for legal services are calculated at the rate of £175 per hour, with letters written and telephone calls and emails (unless timed) at 1/10th, letters received at 1/20th of the hourly rate. Any expenses are charged at the same cost to ourselves.

Full details of our chargeable rates will be contained within our initial letter to yourself.

Cohabitation Agreements

Our charges for completing a Cohabitation agreement will be from £400 (vat £80), total £480 for a straight forward agreement. If there are more complicating features we will discuss this with you before proceeding.

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Proceedings relating to Care Proceedings

If the Local Authority are concerned about the care that you are providing for your children you may require advice on such matters.

In most cases, you should qualify for free legal aid for such advice.

  • If you receive a PLO (Public Law Outline) letter all parents qualify for free legal aid.
  • Free legal aid is also available for all parents in Care proceedings.
  • If you are not a parent (for instance a grandparent) we can provide initial advice upon a fixed fee basis for £100 plus vat (total £120).
  • Our charge rate for other work including attending court, we charge £175 per hour plus vat. For complicated hearings or where Counsel is instructed to represent you, these may be charged at a fixed rate upon which we will discuss this with you before any work is undertaken.
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Probate Charges Guide

PROBATE MATTERS

We can act on your behalf to wind up a Deceased’s Estate.

  • Unlike other Solicitors or banks, we do not make our charges on a percentage value of the Estate which we regard as being unfair and instead only charge for the work that we undertake on your behalf.Please contact our Office for an appointment and after we have ascertained what may be involved in winding up the Estate we will send to you a written estimate of your likely charges.We anticipate this will take between 3 and 20 hours work at £175 per hour. Total costs normally fall between £550 and £3,500 (plus VAT).The exact cost will depend on the individual circumstances of the matter. For example, if there is one beneficiary and no property, costs will be at the lower end of the range. If there are multiple beneficiaries, a property and multiple bank accounts, costs will be at the higher end. The charges will also depend upon whether the Estate will be liable to pay Inheritance TaxWe will handle the full process for you. This quote is for estates where:
    • There is a valid will
    • There is no more than one property
    • There are no more than 4 bank or building society accounts
    • There are no other intangible assets
    • There are between 1 – 5 beneficiaries
    • There are no disputes between beneficiaries on division of assets. If disputes arise this is likely to lead to an increase in costs
    • There is no inheritance tax payable and the executors do not need to submit a full account to HMRC
    • There are no claims made against the estate
    • All of the Assets are in England or Wales

    Disbursements to be added to our fee:

    • Probate application fee is normally £155
    • £7 Swearing of the oath (per executor)
    • Bankruptcy-only Land Charges Department searches (£3 per beneficiary)
    • £250 – £500 Post in The London Gazette – Protects against unexpected claims from unknown creditors (you may choose not to incur this expense).
    • £250 – £500 Post in a Local Newspaper – This also helps to protect against unexpected claims (you may choose not to incur this expense).

    Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

    Potential additional costs

    • If there is no will or the estate consists of any share holdings (stocks and bonds) there is likely to be additional costs that could range significantly depending on the estate and how it is to be dealt with. We can give you a more accurate quote once we have more information.
    • If any additional copies of the grant are required, they will cost £1.50 (1 per asset usually).
    • Dealing with the sale or transfer of any property in the estate is not included.

     

    How long will this take?

    On average, estates that fall within this range are dealt with within 3 – 6 months. Typically, obtaining the grant of probate takes 4 -8 weeks, which can be longer if the estate has to pay Inheritance Tax. Collecting assets then follows, which can take between 8 – 15 weeks. Once this has been done, we can distribute the assets, which normally takes 2 – 3 weeks. There are potential many variables, as with all communications we send, progress depends upon how quickly third parties respond upon which we have no control, which may significantly alter our estimated time to complete your matter.

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