We completely appreciate that it is very stressful and usually very difficult when a couple separates. Emotions usually run high and relationships with your former partner or spouse are strained. We will provide you with practical advice and assistance and look after your interests throughout.
There are three main areas in the field of Family Law in respect of which we provide a service. These are:
Separation Agreements
Simplified Divorce
Divorce
We will now provide details of the costs involved in each of the above types of Family Law work we carry out on behalf of clients.
Separation Agreements for matrimonial/cohabitation matters
Whist a separation agreement might seem straight forward and whilst the parties to the agreement my believe they have agreed everything, sometimes, things change once they’ve received legal advice. It is very difficult to estimate the fees involved because we simply don’t know the full extent of the work before the case begins.
For a fairly straight forward Separation Agreement when the parties have broadly agreed what should happen between them , our fee in the matter will start at £450 (exclusive of VAT). This means the cost to you will start at £540 (including VAT).
Are there any additional costs involved?
Once your Separation Agreement has been signed by both parties, we will send it for registration to in the Books of Council and Session. Registration and provision of one extract incurs a fee of £20.00 (inclusive of VAT). Usually, two extracts are required, and the second extract also costs £20.00 (inclusive of VAT).
This cost has to be added to the cost of your fee.
What’s involved in a Separation Agreement?
This fee for the preparation of a Separation Agreement includes the following work:
- Taking your instructions on your situation
- Advising you about your options
- Contacting your spouse or partner’s solicitors
- Setting out or responding to proposals
- Negotiating with your spouse or partner’s solicitors
- Drafting or revising Separation Agreement
- Having the Separation Agreement signed
- Registering the Separation Agreement in the Books of Council and Session
- Providing an Extract of your Separation Agreement to you
Does this cost include everything?
We should point out that our fee detailed above does not include:
- Any work involved in pension value calculations or discussions with actuaries
- Extensive negotiations on residence or contact in relation to children
- Extended discussions and calculations in relation to financial provision
- Any sales, purchases or transfer of title and associated security work in respect of any heritable property (land and buildings)
- Any litigation arising out of the separation
- Any third-party investigations required into assets and liabilities
- Any third-party costs or charges for valuation of assets or reports on liabilities
Our fee for your Separation Agreement only covers the services we’ve listed above. Everyone’s Separation Agreement is personal to the those involved. We are happy to carry out additional work to meet your requirements and will discuss this with you as well as the potential increased costs should such a situation arise.
Where we need to carry out additional work for you, we will charge a time-based fee at the rate of £250 per hour exclusive of VAT. That means the cost would be £300 per hour (inclusive of VAT of 20%).
Simplified Divorce/Dissolution of Civil Partnership
You can use the simplified divorce/dissolution of partnership option where there are no outstanding financial matters between you and your spouse or partner and also where there are no children involved under the age of 16 years.
In these circumstances we will prepare the application for Divorce or Civil Partnership using simplified procedure. This procedure is used, usually following a separation agreement and after the necessary length of time has passed to allow your application to be lodged with the Sheriff Court.
We provide this service on a fixed fee basis where the fee we charge for dealing with a simplified divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership is £195. This fee attracts VAT which means the cost to you is £234 (including VAT).
Are there any additional costs involved?
As the simplified divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership required a procedure in court, a fee needs to be paid to the Sheriff Court. The fee for this kind of procedure is £128.
In addition, if service of the application needs to be made by Sheriff Officer, an additional court fee of £13 will need to be paid.
In addition to that, the Sheriff Officers themselves will charge a fee and the level of that fee will be dependent on how easy or difficult it is for them to service the application on your spouse or partner.
For instance, if the application has to be served personally, the Sheriff Officers will charge a fee in the region of £103.78. This fee will attract VAT at 20% which means it will cost £124.54.
What’s involved in a Simplified divorce/dissolution of civil partnership?
This fee for this type of work includes the following:
- Taking your instructions
- Advising on whether this procedure is available to you
- Advising you about the application and procedure involved
- Completing the application to court and having it signed by you
- Notarising the application
- Lodging the application (including any supporting documents) with the Sheriff Court
- Reporting to you on the outcome of your application.
Does this cost include everything?
In simplified divorce or dissolution of civil partnership, we do not envisage there being any additional costs. However, if something unforeseen occurs which causes additional work to be required, we will advise you of this as soon as we discover this. Should such a situation arise, we will revert to the hourly rate basis shown above for this type of work and we will advise you of our best estimate of the likely time involvement and cost should we be able to provide an assessment of it at that time.
Ordinary Cause Divorce
Where we are instructed to raise proceedings for divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership and it does not meet the criteria allowing it to fall into the simplified divorce category, an Ordinary Action of Divorce needs to be raised.
Once again, the actual charge will depend on the nature or complexity of the action you raise.
We can advise that a typical example of the cost involved in this types of case starts at £650 (exclusive of VAT). This means the cost of fees to you is £780 (including VAT).
Are there any additional costs involved?
There can be many additional costs involved in an Ordinary Cause Divorce, especially if it is defended. Once the case is enrolled in court, we then have to manage the entire process through to either an agreed settlement or a Proof, Debate or Proof before Answer. This can involve many different court processes for which there are court dues to pay and, potentially, local agents costs incurred. We will keep you advised of the costs as the case progresses through the court.
An indication of the court dues which can be incurred when you raise court proceeding for divorce, we recommend you become familiar with the fees charged by the Sheriff Court. You can find these here and should look under the heading “Ordinary Procedure including Ordinary Divorce/Dissolution of civil partnership”.
What’s involved in a Defended Divorce/Dissolution of Civil Partnership Action?
This fee for the preparation of a Separation Agreement includes the following work:
- Taking your instructions on your situation
- Advising you about your options and the procedure involved
- Taking statements from witnesses
- Preparing your case and lodging the Initial Writ in court (this set out your case)
- Dealing with adjustments to answer claims made by your spouse
- Dealing with court procedure and attending court on your behalf
- Negotiations leading to settlement (if appropriate)
- Citing witnesses to attend
- Setting and conducting a Proof/Debate/Proof Before Answer
- Confirming the outcome to you
Sometimes, we are unable to carry out the work for the fee indicated above because of the circumstances of the case and the conduct or behaviour of your spouse. Should this occur, we will advise you that additional chargeable work needs to be done. Where we need to carry out additional work for you, we will charge a time-based fee at the rate of £250 per hour exclusive of VAT. That means the cost would be £300 per hour (inclusive of VAT of 20%).