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Our Family Law Prices & Fees
At Devonalds we aim to make our cost structure as clear as possible and to provide a service or product to suit all requirements and budgets. Below is a breakdown of our current fees, though do not hesitate to contact us if you require any further explanation of your options.
| Lawyer Assisted Self Managed Services | Our Fees & Other Costs |
|---|---|
Whichever aspect of Family Law your case relates to, we offer a one off consultation with one of our expert lawyers. This consultation will allow us to fully explain the funding options for your case and provide some general procedural advice on your particular case. |
|
For Divorce or Children matters | £100.00 Plus VAT |
For any other family matter | £150.00 plus VAT |
Full Representation
We appreciate that for many, the prospect of managing a case yourself may be undesirable.
Should you wish for your case to be fully handled by one of our expert lawyers then we offer two options in each area. We are either able to provide a service based on fixed fees, or for more complicated matters, or on your personal preference, we are able to offer our traditional hourly rates based services. The options are outlined below:
1. Hourly Rates Based Fees
Our services are always available to our clients on a traditional hourly rate charging basis. The rates charged by the lawyer representing you will depend upon that lawyers’ level of experience.
All hourly rates are broken down into 6 minute units when time costing, and rounded up to the nearest unit. Any travel and waiting times, such as at Court, are charged at half the lawyer’s normal hourly rate. Please note fees will include additional mileage charges and disbursements as required.
We will ensure that an estimate of our fees is provided to you in clear terms at the earliest possible occasion.
Our hourly rates are as follows:
- For Partners in the family department rates are £180.00 plus VAT per hour
- For Solicitors with over 3 years post qualified experience and highly experienced Senior Caseworkers; £160.00 plus VAT per hour.
- For Solicitors with less than 3 years post qualified experience and experienced caseworkers; £130.00 plus VAT per hour.
- For Trainee Solicitors/junior caseworkers £100.00 plus VAT per hour.
We will normally ask for at least £500.00 on account of costs at the beginning of any hourly rate funded case as well as the arrangement of a standing order for £160 plus VAT monthly. You will then be billed on a regular basis of no more than every 3 months. Any amount overpaid by you will be repaid at the end of your case and you will be expected to pay any additional sum owing within 28 days of receipt of your bill.
All balances owing must be cleared in advance of your attendance at any Court hearing. We will also need to have sufficient funds on account in advance of any Court hearing to meet our costs in representing you.
Do not hesitate to contact us for more information.
Note: In many cases you will have the option to choose between hourly rates or our below fixed fee structure, however we retain the right to refuse to accept your case on fixed fees for more complicated cases. Where the amount of work expended during the fixed fee instruction has become unreasonable and exceeded two and a half times the individual fixed fee, the fee earner can decide whether the fixed fee can be escaped before the conclusion of the fixed fee work. If the escape is triggered then the fee earner will discuss with the client the costs to be applied for the remainder of the work between the date of the escape being triggered and the commencement of the next fixed fee. No decision to change your billing plan will be made without discussion with you beforehand.
2. Fixed Fee Services
Below follows a breakdown of our fixed fee services for all family cases.
| Divorce | Prices | Stage |
|---|---|---|
Fixed Fee services are always available in respect of an undefended Divorce, whether as Petitioner or Respondent. This service includes meeting and advising you on the procedure for Divorce, the preparation and handling of all documentation and corresponding with the other party and the Court. | For Petitioner £490 plus VAT + Disbursements | A1 |
For Respondent £400 plus VAT +Disbursements | A2 |
Contested Proceedings
For Matrimonial Finances and Children’s cases we have broken down our fixed fees into clear sections. This should allow you to decide which level of service you require and ensure you are aware of the costs before you agree our to us completing the work on your behalf, as well as how much work is being undertaken for the price paid.
See the tables below outlining our fixed fees in each area, usually each stage is designed to follow the stage before but there can be occasions when a particular stage will need to be repeated. For each repeated stage there will be another fixed fee. Your total costs will be all the required stages combined:
Note 1: There maybe additional costs required, such as reports Ordered by the Court. The cost for any such disbursements are not covered in our fixed fees. Mileage charges for attendance at Court/Conference are 45 pence per mile. In addition any parking charges will be payable.
Note 2: Our fees are based upon representation at Court within 10 miles of the office at which your file is held.
| Matrimonial Financial Matters | Prices | Stage |
|---|---|---|
| Our costs for meeting and advising you on financial matters, reasonable correspondence with the other side in trying to negotiate a settlement, up to, but not including the preparation and issue of any Court Application or final consent order. | ||
Cases where total capital assets including pensions and any other Policies total under £50,000.00. | £350 plus VAT plus any disbursements | B1 |
For cases of total assets over £50,000 | £600.00 plus VAT Plus any required disbursements | |
Preparation of Consent Order/Financial Statement | £295.00 plus VAT Plus any required disbursements | B2 |
Our costs for the preparation of a Court Application and representation up to, but not including the first Court Hearing. This will cover advice and preparation of all documentation required by the Court (Financial information forms, Questionnaires etc) | £600.00 plus VAT Plus Court issue fee | B3 |
Representation at the first court hearing and any subsequent directions hearings (provided they are not contested) within 10 miles. | £300.00 plus VAT Per Hearing & Mileage/Parking charges | B4 |
Representation at the first court hearing and any subsequent directions hearings (provided they are not contested) over 10 miles. | £350.00 plus VAT Per Hearing & Mileage/Parking charges | |
On-going representation between any directions hearings. | £300.00 plus VAT plus disbursements | B5 |
Representation between any directions appointments and Financial Dispute Resolution hearing | £550.00 plus VAT | B6 |
Representation at the Financial Dispute Resolution Hearing | £500.00 plus VAT Plus travelling charges | B7 |
Representation between Financial Dispute Resolution Hearing up to but not including Final Hearing | £300.00 plus VAT | B8 |
Representation at any contested Final Hearing | £750.00 plus VAT per half day hearing Plus travelling disbursements | B9 |
Implementation fee for Court Orders | £300.00 plus VAT | B10 |
Instructing an Expert | £150.00 plus VAT per required service | B11 |
Preparing Trial Bundles (up to 350 pages) | £150.00 plus VAT | |
Preparing Trial Bundles (more than 350 pages) | £150.00 plus VAT per additional bundle | |
Attending a Conference with a Barrister under 1.5 hours | £150.00 plus Vat | |
Attending a conference with a Barrister 1.5 hours or over | £200.00 plus vat | |
Instructing a Barrister at Court for up to 1 day | £500.00 plus vat | |
Photocopying charges not included in preparing trial bundles | 5p per sheet |
| Children’s Matters | Prices | Stage |
|---|---|---|
Our costs for meeting and advising you on Children’s matters, reasonable correspondence with the other side in trying to negotiate an agreement, up to, but not including the preparation and issue of any Court Application | £300.00 plus VAT | C1 |
Where you have received a Court application our costs for meeting and advising you and any correspondence with the Court of the other party. | £300.00 plus VAT | C2 |
Our costs for the preparation of a Court Application and representation up to, but not including the first Court Hearing. This will cover advice and preparation of all documentation required by the Court (Court application forms etc.) | £300.00 plus VAT Plus court issue fee of £215.00 | C3 |
Representation at the first court hearing and any subsequent directions hearings or between directions hearings. | £300.00 plus VAT Per Hearing plus Mileage/Parking charges | C4 |
On-going representation between any non-contested hearing and any subsequent directions hearings | £300 plus VAT plus disbursements | C5 |
Representation between directions hearing and leading up to any contested hearing (e.g. fact finding, interim contested hearings and final hearings) | £450.00 plus VAT Plus Mileage/Parking charges | C6 |
Representation at any Contested Hearing before District Judge or Magistrates | £695.00 plus VAT per half day hearing | C7 |
£999.00 plus VAT per day plus travelling charges | ||
Preparing Trial Bundles (up to 350 pages) | £150.00 plus VAT | C8 |
Preparing Trial Bundles (more than 350 pages) | £150.00 plus VAT per additional bundle | |
Attending a Conference with a Barrister under 1.5 hours | £150.00 plus VAT | |
Attending a conference with a Barrister 1.5 hours or over | £200.00 plus VAT | |
Attending at Court to assist your Barrister for up to 1 day | £500 plus VAT | |
Photocopying charges not included in preparing trial bundles | 5p per sheet | |
Drafting Contact Agreement | £250.00 plus VAT | C9 |
NOTE – Most cases are conducted in the County Court or Family Proceedings Court before a District Judge or Magistrates. If at any stage within the proceedings your case is transferred to the Circuit Judge or the High Court we would no longer be able to offer a fixed fee service and your case would revert to hourly rates if you wish to continue to instruct us.
We offer some additional services in our family department and our fixed fees for the same are outlined below:
| Additional Family Services | Prices |
|---|---|
Parental Responsibility/Step Parental Responsibility Agreement | £200.00 plus VAT |
Change of name deed | £70.00 plus VAT |
Statutory Declaration | £70.00 plus VAT |
Separation Agreement | £550.00 plus VAT |
Please note: Our fees are subject to review. Please ensure you confirm the fee for any service with our staff before agreeing any work to be undertaken. However we will keep you informed of any proposed fee changes throughout your case.
For any assistance in relation to these fee structures, please do not hesitate to contact our staff who will be happy to assist.