Family Law Fees

Typical Disbursements 

Disbursements are third-party costs incurred during the process. These are payable in addition to our professional fixed fees. We will always let you know before these expenses are incurred, unless they are minimal in which case we will let you know in your cost update.

These are costs paid to third parties during the process:

• Court fees (varies depending on application type)
• Process server fees
• Barrister’s fees (if instructed)
• Expert witness fees (e.g. psychologists, medical professionals)
• Interpreter fees (if required)
• Travel expenses (if applicable)
• Copying and administrative charges
• Specialist report fees (e.g. drug and alcohol testing)
• Transcript fees (if court transcripts are requested)
• Land Registry Documents if required.
• InfoTrack Fees: Charges for using InfoTrack to obtain documents efficiently; passed on at cost with no markup.

How Our Legal Fees Are Calculated

Our charges are based on the time our professional staff spend working on your matter, calculated at our standard hourly rate. This is a standard approach to costing for legal services and reflects our expertise and experience in working on your matter.

Our current rate is £280 per hour. This is reviewed annually.

We maintain detailed time records for all work undertaken, which we refer to as Work in Progress (WIP). These records are available to you upon request. This WIP is recoded on your individual ledger on our case management system. We also manually record all work undertaken including emails, file notes, attendance notes and letters sent and received on a paper file.

Time is recorded in six-minute units, in line with standard legal practice. For example:

• • A 30-minute meeting is recorded as 5 units (5 x 6 minutes).

Clarity and Confidence in Your Legal Costs

We provide a detailed estimate of costs in your initial Client Care Letter, outlining an expected range of legal fees. While disbursements (third-party costs) are additional, we will always give you a clear indication of what these are likely to be. To keep you fully informed, we review and update your costs regularly, either every three months or when fees approach the upper end of the original estimate, whichever comes first.

• One hour equals 10 units.

This method applies to all aspects of work on your file, including meetings, telephone calls, document review, preparation, administration, and research.

Examples:

• A standard letter or routine email is typically charged at 1 unit (6 minutes).
• More complex correspondence may be charged at a higher number of units.
• Review and research is recorded literally as are meetings and longer calls.