Paying privately
Why do I have to pay privately?
If you are not eligible to receive legal aid, then we will have to advise you as a private client.
This means that you will not receive any Government assistance towards the cost of your legal fees and you will be responsible for paying them.
How much will it cost me?
The level of your fees depends on the amount of work we have to carry out on your behalf.
We have a set hourly rate which will be set out in our client care letter once you have instructed us to act for you. We will also, of course, tell you before you instruct us what that hourly rate is.
We will be able to give you an estimate of costs but this should not be treated as a quotation.
We would firstly ask you to pay a sum of money up front on account of costs. If we are to issue an application at Court for you then the Court fees alone could range from £175 to £300.
How much will you want up front?
We would normally ask for a minimum of £410 on account. However, depending on what work we need to carry out for you, we may ask for a little more than this to start with.
How do I pay you?
We can accept the following:
- Cash
- Debit card
- Credit card (please note there will be a 2% surcharge on top)
- Cheque
- Standing Order (if you wish to pay by standing order, we would ask for £500 on account and then provide our bank details to you)
What if I cannot afford pay you?
When you instruct us to act on your behalf, we will ask you to sign a form called a “notice of acting in person”. That form will be held on your file.
If you can no longer afford to pay us and, in the event that Court proceedings have been issued, we will file the notice of acting in person at Court. This form will tell the Court that we are not instructed to act on your behalf and the Court will then send all documents and Court Orders direct to you.
If there are any fees outstanding, we would recoup these from you. In the majority of cases, we would be holding sufficient monies on account to discharge any costs outstanding.
If a regular payment was missed or a cheque bounced, we would seek to recover costs from you. We would only issue debt recovery action as a last resort, although we hope this would not be necessary.
How often will I receive invoices?
We bill our private clients on a regular basis, depending on how active their file will be. Some cases are billed every month, others are billed every two months.
What will you do for me if I do not pay on account of costs?
Quite simply – nothing. The partners of this firm will not allow us to incur charges for work that we may not be paid for.
What if my circumstances change and I cannot afford to pay you?
We can assess your means to see whether your qualify for public funding. You can ask us to assess you at any time if your circumstances change.
If you have any questions or need any further advice, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will do our best to accommodate you.