Fees
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We believe in the importance of transparency when we provide our clients with the costs of the legal work we do for them. New guidance has been introduced by the Law Society of Scotland to enable clients and potential clients to compare and contract the costs of types of legal work provided by solicitors. In addition, the guidance only applies to certain types of legal work we provide. It does not apply to any commercial or corporate legal services we provide to clients. If you would like to know the costs of those, you should ask us to send you an estimate of the cost. If you want to find out more about this, you please visit the Law Society of Scotland’s price transparency guidance.
It’s important to recognise that the legal fee we charge is only part of the overall cost of most legal transactions. We believe it’s important to properly explain all of the costs involved in a transaction to our clients.
We believe the publication of all of the costs involved in the various different types of work we carry out will help you to budget for the work you you would like us to do for you.
The following services we provide are included in the guidance:
The cost of buying a house
Doing the legal work for clients who wish to buy a house is one of the most common things we do. It is important to understand that the legal fee we charge is only one element of the overall cost. There are a number of additional costs involved which you have to pay over and above our fee. We collect those and pass them on to the third parties who charge them. We will provide you with a list of these additional costs and show you a worked example. Where appropriate, we will provide links to third party websites where you can get further information. Follow this link to get a comprehensive breakdown of all that’s involved.
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The cost of selling a house
Just as when you’re buying a house, the fee we charge for selling a house is only part of the overall cost. There are a number of additional costs which you have to pay and over which we have no control. We will detail these costs and show you where you can get further information on these. Follow the link below to properly calculate the cost of selling your house.
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The cost of re-mortgaging a house
Re-mortgages involve parts of the work involved in the sale of a house and parts of the work required when you buy a house. When you re-mortgage your property, you replace one mortgage with another. Just as with the sale or purchase of property, in addition to the fee we charge, there are third party costs you will have to meet. We will detail those costs and show you where you can get further information on these. We believe this will enable you to accurately calculate the cost of your re-mortgage
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The cost of a Minute of Agreement on house purchase
Sometimes when a couple buys a house, their contribution to the deposit is uneven. When this happens, it is prudent to draw up an agreement clearly stating the amount of the contribution from each party and, importantly, what happens to the profit when the house is sold. We provide you with a note of the costs involved in creation of a minute of agreement to regulate the position.
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The cost of making a Will
Making a Will is one of the most important things you can ever do. We prepare Wills for many clients every year. When you make your Will you get the change to set out your wishes about what happens to your estate after you die. You decide who should receive your estate after you pass away. If you have a partner but are not married or in a civil partnership, it is very important to be aware that your Will can help ensure that your partner can participate in your estate. We will explain the costs involved in making your Will.
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The cost of making a Power of Attorney
Sometimes we become unable to look after our own affairs. A Power of Attorney allows you to appoint someone you trust to look after your affairs if you are unable to do that yourself. Usually, your attorney will make the kind of decisions you would normally make but no longer can. We will explain the costs involved in preparing a Power of Attorney.
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The cost of dealing with Estates
When someone dies, it’s very important that their assets are collected and distributed and their debts are paid. Every estate is different. Sometimes there’s a Will and in other times there is not. If there is no Will, this will involve additional work. Some estates are more complex than others. Until we know the full extent of the work involved, it is difficult to provide a cost budget. However, if we take a typical fee we charge for this type of work, we are able to give you an indication of the possible cost.
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The cost of Separation and Divorce
When you’re facing separation or divorce we fully appreciate just how stressful this can be. We believe that a negotiated and agreed settlement is preferable but, in some instances, resorting to court proceedings is the only option. Given the nature of this type of work, it’s very difficult to provide specific costs as every case is different. We will look at a range of costs for this type of work and indicate what a typical case will cost.
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The cost of General Business
We are frequently asked for advice and receive instructions to act in cases that don’t fit into any specific type of work. Such things might be title problems, disputes in relation to estates, neighbour disputes or insolvency advice. In such circumstances, our fee is based on an hourly rate and we explain how this is applied.
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As we mentioned earlier, we also provide a range of legal services for our commercial and corporate clients which are not affected by the price transparency guidance. We are, however, happy to outline our costs to our clients in those areas of law and will, of course, provide confirmation of those costs in our Terms of Engagement letter.
Are the legal fees fixed?
Where we can, we will offer a fixed price fee. Where we are unable to offer a fixed fee services, we will explain our fee charging basis.
As you read through the information on legal fees, if you have any questions at all about these, please get in touch with us. Please remember that the legal fees published on our website are an indication of the fees we charge for different types of work. However, every case is different and the final fee charged will be based on your own particular circumstances as well as the circumstances of the case. If there are issues, we will explain these to you.
We will issue our Terms of Business to you when you confirm you wish us to represent you. Our Terms of Business will set out our terms of business and confirm the fee charging basis and the likely costs of the work you’ve engaged us for.
Is the legal fee the only thing I’ll have to pay?
In most cases, the legal fee is only one element of the overall cost of doing the work for you. There are likely to be additional costs, made up of expenses or outlays. We will clearly explain these to you.
We also point out that legal fees are subject to VAT. We will give you an indication of our fee which is both exclusive and inclusive of VAT. The actual cost you have to pay will be the fee plus the VAT (currently 20%). We then account to the Government for the VAT element of the cost.
If you have any questions about our fees or if you would like further information specific to your own case, please get in touch.