Clear Pricing

We can offer a variety of pricing options to you, depending on your individual circumstances.  We provide a full scope of work detailing what is included in the price you’ll pay and our assumptions based on the information you have provided and what isn’t included in the price.  As your matter progresses we’ll keep you fully updated on costs.

Fixed fee # 1

This pricing option gives you a measure of predictability and certainty within the instructions taken at the outset of the matter taking into account the assumptions and exclusions discussed with you.  We share the risk although if there is a cost overrun, but it relates to one of the items covered in the scope and assumptions, then we will absorb this cost and we will not pass it on to you.

This option does not completely remove all of the risk for you.  If there is departure from the scope of work or assumptions made at the outset it is highly likely that our fee will need to be adjusted to cover the additional time incurred.  However, this will be discussed with you as soon as we become aware of the possibility.

Fixed fee # 2

You have complete budgetary predictability and certainty.  There will never be any pricing surprises. Almost all of the cost risk sits with us.

Legal Expenses Funding

You may already have legal expenses funding in place known as Before the Event (BTE) legal expenses cover. We will investigate this and advise you on your funding options. We can liaise with your legal expenses insurers with a view to obtaining their agreement to our acting under the terms of your legal expenses policy.
In addition where appropriate we can assist you in applying for After the Event legal expenses insurance (ATE) and/or loan funding for your legal costs.

You might not be familiar with what each of the various solicitor roles and titles mean, for example a Director or Associate, so we’ve provided a handy guide explaining our different roles which you can access by clicking on the link below.

Our roles explained

Please contact our Family law team on 01228 516666 and we will be happy to discuss your case and give an accurate estimate of what your costs might be – and we’re happy to receive payment in stages by direct debit to suit your circumstances.

Buying or selling a property is often one of the biggest moments of your life. Our team of residential conveyancers are highly skilled and competent legal professionals who will carry out the legal work necessary to ensure we help you achieve your objectives.

Our team of residential conveyancers have many years of experience between them.  Team members in each office are supervised by solicitors with the appropriate level of experience and qualification to ensure we provide the highest level of service to you.

Why choose us?

We’ll hold our hands up and say we’re not the cheapest around, but we’re not the most expensive either.  What you’ll get from us is excellent service from people who know their stuff and absolute transparency with cost.  There are no hidden fees or surprises from us; we will provide a full scope of works, complete with detailed prices and a description of what you are actually paying for, along with what is excluded from the cost.

It’s important that you are fully informed of all costs relating to the sale or purchase of your property before, during and at the end of your matter. We provide full details of our costs based on the value of your property and the work required by us as your conveyancer to ensure we achieve your aim.  We are up front about costs; nothing is hidden from you.

Our fees cover all of the work required to complete the purchase of your new home or the sale of remortgage of your property, including dealing with registration at the Land Registry and payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax (Stamp Duty) on a purchase if the property is in England, or Land Transaction Tax (Land Tax) if the property you wish to buy is in Wales.

• No hidden costs – we are up front about our fees; nothing is hidden from you
• Consistent, excellent levels of service
• Full details of what you’re actually paying for, and what is excluded
• A Service Level Guarantee (more information below)
• Abort/success fee option
• Clear and effective communication
 
Service Level Guarantee

Unlike many other law firms, we can offer what we call our Service Level Guarantee. This is available on certain transactions. We agree at the outset our service levels and if we fail to meet those service levels to you at any time during the course of your matter, we will discount your bill by the amount agreed, no quibbles.  All that we ask is that you tell us why we didn’t meet our agreed level of service to you.
 
Abort/success fee

Some transactions due to circumstances outside of your control, can fail part way through. It is frustrating for clients who then have to pay for time incurred to the point the transaction became abortive even though the sale or purchase doesn’t proceed.

To offer you some protection in case a sale or purchase falls through, we offer an ‘Abort/ Success Fee’ option at the beginning of the transaction. If you decide to take this option, we will reduce the fee we charge based on the time incurred by 50% should the sale or purchase fall through. That would cover our time to date but not disbursements or payments to third parties already incurred by us.

In return if you take this option at the start of the transaction and the transaction was successful and reached exchange of contracts or mortgage funds are released on a re-mortgage, we would add 20% of the total fixed fee to the price as our success fee. For example, if we agreed a fixed fee of £500 (excluding disbursements and VAT) with you and the transaction falls through when costs of £300 were incurred, we would reduce our fee to £150 (plus VAT and disbursements). However, if the transaction reached exchange of contracts and therefore proceeded, we would charge an extra £100 for our services (being 20% of £500) (plus VAT and disbursements).
 
Further information on our residential conveyancing service and team please visit our dedicated residential conveyancing team page.  Here you can see the details of our team members, including contact information.

Quotes for properties valued at £600,000 or above are bespoke and can be obtained by contacting Elizabeth Crouch on 01228 516666 or by email here

Get Your Conveyancing Quote

Buying, selling, or remortgaging? Input your details into our online calculator for an instant quote today.

A deceased person’s estate

Probate generally refers to obtaining the ‘Grant of Representation’ required by law when someone dies where they owned property or land or when a bank or financial institution requires a ‘Grant’ to release any funds.

A ‘Grant of Probate’ must be obtained before an Executor (if there is a Will) or a ‘Grant of Letters of Administration’ by an Administrator (generally where there is no Will) can start to gather in and distribute the assets associated with the estate of the deceased.

Why choose us?

Having to deal with the death of someone close to you can be a difficult and very personal experience.
We have an extensive team of highly competent solicitors and specialists based across each of our locations equipped to provide solutions and help you achieve your aims and desired outcomes.   We will work with you to apply for the correct Grant and can help with the formalities of the administration of the estate following receipt of the Grant on your behalf.

We can tailor our quote to your requirements.  If you undertake some of the tasks our involvement can be reduced whilst still having access to our expertise.
Every member of the team aims to provide:

• Consistent, excellent levels of service
• Agile pricing options offering value and flexibility with absolute transparency
• Accurate and useful advice on time, every time.
• Clear and effective communication

Click to find out more about our Wills, Probate and Inheritance team.  We always ensure the appropriate level of supervision and have solicitors in supervisory roles in each of our locations who have the appropriate level of skills and experience to ensure a quality service to you.

You’ll see that one of our aims is to offer you ‘agile pricing options, offering value and flexibility with absolute transparency’; we are able to provide you with real choice with various pricing options available to you depending on your circumstances.

The pricing options explained

We invite clients to select a pricing option based on whichever best meets your needs.  You can find out detailed information about our choices of pricing options in the section above called ‘Pricing options explained.’

Disbursements

These are expenses related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. Usually these are paid on your behalf to ensure the process runs smoothly. Typical disbursements are:

Probate Court fee (estates worth over £5,000) of £526
Additional (Office copies) of the Grant of Probate £2 each usually one per asset
Commissioners Fees £5 plus £2 for each additional documents e.g. Will or Codicil (per Executor)

In some estates these disbursements may also be appropriate:

Advertisement in The London Gazette £102.50 +VAT (to protect against unexpected claims on the estate). We use an agent which is a little more but cuts down on our costs as there’s only one form to complete.

Advertisement in the local paper £150 – £300 (typical cost but dependent on the publisher’s prices e.g. Cumberland and Westmorland Herald £150 – £300 +VAT)
Unclaimed Assets search – £165 plus VAT to £210 plus VAT.

Taxes

Please be aware that Inheritance Tax, Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax may be payable from estate funds.

Timescales

This will depend on how quickly the necessary information becomes available.  As an example, in scenario 1, a realistic estimate to obtain the Grant of Probate might be 6-8 weeks from the initial meeting.  The second stage of the process can take longer, especially if Executors wish to protect themselves against claims on the estate.  If Executors do not think potential claims are likely the estate could be wound up within 8-12 weeks from receiving the Grant of Probate.

Typical scenarios and pricing choices

The link below provides some examples of common scenarios and pricing choices available for Probate work in relation to uncontested cases where all the assets are based in the UK.

Probate common scenarios and pricing choices
 
Services included in obtaining a Grant of Representation

• Initial interview to advise on the deceased’s Will/intestacy provisions
• Discuss role of Executors/Administrators
• Discuss method of collating information regarding assets and liabilities of the deceased
• Consideration of the availability of the Transferable Nil rate band Residence Nil rate Band and Transferable Nil rate band and the documentation need to claim if appropriate • • Calculate whether Inheritance Tax is payable
• Identify whether there any reliefs/allowances available to reduce Inheritance Tax and the information the Revenue will require to consider the claim for the relief/allowance
• Prepare Inheritance Tax forms
• Prepare probate application for Executors/Administrators and meet with you to go through these
• Submit application for a Grant of Representation to the Court

Services included in dealing with formalities after receiving the Grant of Representation

• Collect in the assets due to the estate
• Pay liabilities and administration expenses of the estate
• Ascertain the deceased’s Income Tax position
• Deal with any correspondence from the Revenue regarding information reported in the Inheritance Tax form.
• Planning payment of any Inheritance Tax due
• Correspond with beneficiaries regarding distributions from the estate and pay legacies and interim distributions as instructed
• Prepare estate accounts
• Bankruptcy checks
• Pay final balance to beneficiaries

Services NOT included in obtaining a Grant of Representation and work carried out subsequently

• Property sales
• Tracing beneficiaries
• Work in connection with related trusts
• Deeds of Variation
• Business or farming advice
• Advice in relation to assets/liabilities out of the jurisdiction of England and Wales
• Trusts set up under the deceased’s Will
• Financial advice regarding the disposal of assets in the future
• Issues relating to long term care or care packages of the deceased
• Challenges to the validity of a Will
• Claims against the estate
• Issues relating to the domiciled status of the deceased
• Anything else not specifically agreed

Cash-flow is important to all businesses.  A large proportion of that cash-flow comes from getting paid properly and in a timely fashion from individual consumers/customers or businesses who have received a service from you.

Cartmell Shepherd offers a transparent solution for recovery of debts from unpaid invoices.  Our debt recovery specialist, Carly Davies, works within our specialist Dispute Resolution team and is your main point of contact. Carly has over 15 years’ experience in this area of law and handles all of our debt recovery cases, including business-to-business debts and debts owed by individuals. She offers a full litigation service including advising on enforcement procedures, insolvency and bankruptcy.  Carly is supervised on a daily basis by Mark Aspin, the head of our Dispute Resolution department.

Recovering debts from unpaid invoices can follow a straightforward process.  Please note that this process only applies to the recovery of unpaid invoices where no dispute has previously been raised.  If a claim is defended on substantive grounds, or you have some other contractual basis for a claim, please contact us and we will provide you with an estimate of what work may be required and what the likely estimated costs will be.

Please click on the link below for an explanation of each stage of the process and our fixed-fee costs.
Business debt recovery of unpaid invoices stages of the process and our costs

We’ve also prepared a flow-chart of the whole process that you can access by clicking here.
Business debt recovery of unpaid invoices process flowchart

We offer transparent pricing for representing employees in Employment Tribunal claims for unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal.
The fees below are intended as a guide only. The exact cost will depend on the complexity of the case, the volume of documents, the number of witnesses, the number of and length of preliminary hearings and whether the matter proceeds to a full hearing.

Straightforward Cases
£5,000 – £8,000 plus VAT

Examples include:
· A single claimant.
· A straightforward unfair or wrongful dismissal claim.
· Limited documentation and witness evidence.
· A hearing lasting one day or less.

Standard Complexity Cases
£10,000 – £15,000 plus VAT
Examples include:
· More extensive witness evidence.
· Multiple allegations or legal issues.
· Significant documentary evidence.
· Hearings lasting two to three days.

Complex Cases
£15,000 – £30,000+ plus VAT
Examples include:
· Multiple claims and legal issues.
· Large volumes of documents.
· Multiple witnesses.
· Hearings lasting several days.
· Complex procedural applications.

What is included?
Our fees generally include:
· Initial review of the case.
· Advice on merits and likely compensation.
· Drafting and submitting Tribunal documents.
· Reviewing evidence and collating documents
· Preparation of witness statements.
· Negotiating settlement where appropriate.
· Preparing for and attending Tribunal hearings.

What is not Included?
The following may incur additional charges:
· Barrister’s fees for advocacy at hearings.
· Expert witness fees.
· Appeals.
· Additional hearings or applications not reasonably anticipated at the outset.

Barrister’s Fees
Where a barrister is required, costs typically range from:
· £2,500 – £5,000 plus VAT for preparation and a one-day hearing.
· Higher fees may apply for longer or more complex hearings.

Timescales
Employment Tribunal claims generally take between 12 and 24 months from commencement to final hearing, depending on Tribunal availability, the complexity of the case, witness availability and the number of days hearing required.

We can take payment by cash (limited amount), cheque, debit card, direct payment via internet banking and Direct Debit. You can make a payment here.

If you’d like to speak to a member of our teams to find out more about our pricing options, please contact us at any one of our seven offices.
Alternatively, complete one of the forms available on our pages and we’ll contact you at a time that’s convenient for you.