Cost Information

Wills Prices

A will is one of the most important and personal documents any of us can have.  Everyone’s will is different, and a properly drafted will should be tailored to your unique family and financial circumstances.  As a result, we can only provide a broad indication of our outline costs for the basic types of Will we can produce:

Single Wills

£175.00 plus VAT

Mirror Wills

£250.00 plus VAT

Property Trust Wills

£500.00 plus VAT

Where you have a general idea about what you would like to include in your Will, we will meet or speak with you and take all the necessary details.

At this initial stage, we will provide you with general advice and guidance on the provisions you wish to include and make suggestions on the best way to achieve what you are trying to do.  We will also make you aware of any relevant considerations, many of which are common to all types of will.

If your individual circumstances call for more detailed advice, for example in relation to tax, conflict within the family, or other complex matters, we can help with this but there will be an additional charge for doing so.

Once you instructions are confirmed, we will prepare a draft will based on these and send this to you for you to check and approve.

Most of the work we do is carried out at the start of the matter, in particular opening a file and ledger, taking your instructions and preparing the draft will.

Once we have started preparing a will for you, we are under a general duty to complete it for you in a timely manner.  We will do our part in sending out the draft will to you; we then expect you to contact us to complete the work within a reasonable time, usually around 14 days as a guide.  If we do not hear from you within a reasonable time, then we may have to close the matter and send a bill to you for the work done.  If we do this,  and you then wish to reopen and complete the matter, there may be an extra charge for this.

If you change your instructions during the drafting process in any significant way – more than simply changing names,  addresses, amounts – then we will adapt your will appropriately.  We will charge an additional fee for the time involved in doing so, and the amount will depend on the extent of the alteration(s).

The usual turnaround time for wills is about 3-4 weeks from when we receive your full instructions, though at particularly busy times this may be a little longer. Where you require a will doing urgently, we can help you with this but our fees will increase. It is difficult to tell you how much extra this will be as it will vary according to a number of factors.  If you need your will preparing urgently then please let us know at the outset of the matter and we will provide you with an appropriate fee estimate.

Our fees are based on us attending you to take your instructions and execute any will(s) at our offices. We can attend you at home or in another location, but we will need to charge an additional fee for this, based on how far we have to go and how long it takes. As a guide we charge £150.00 per hour for the travelling time, plus a charge for mileage.

Our fees also include providing two witnesses for the execution of the will, at our offices.  Again, if we have to attend you at home or in another location to execute the will then we will do so, but we will charge an additional fee for the second witness in this case.  Typically this witness will be a junior member of staff; the fee for their attendance will usually be £50.00 per hour.

Where we are required to attend you away from our offices, we will confirm any applicable additional fees with you in advance, unless the matter is urgent.

Estate Planning

If you are not sure what provision you wish to make in your will, or you want some expert guidance on what your options are or how to address complicated circumstances, then we can meet with you to discuss the matter and advise you.

Because of the nature of this service we charge a consultation fee of £150.00 plus VAT. This provides for up to an hour of discussion, but does not include any advice in writing.  We will set out the relevant considerations and different options available to you in the meeting and you can then consider how you want to proceed.

We are happy to provide our advice in writing following the meeting, but we charge an additional fee for this, the amount of which is dependent on how involved and time-consuming this is.

If you decide to adopt any of our recommendations, your payment of the above consultation fee will be taken into account in any final bill.

With both Wills and Estate Planning, we will generally agree a fee with you before carrying out any substantive work.  However, where we are only able to provide a broad estimate of fees, the work on your matter will be carried out at our various hourly rates for staff.  These are set out below:

If you have any questions or queries regarding our fees for Wills and Estate Planning, please do not hesitate to contact us.

With all the areas of work we do, we will do our best to give you a clear idea of what the work will cost you.  However, where we are only able to provide a broad estimate of fees, or we cannot estimate what the final costs are likely to be, the work on your matter will be carried out at our various hourly rates for staff.  The basic hourly rates are set out below. These can increase, based on a number of factors, but we will tell you the relevant hourly rate at the start of the matter

Pobate & Administration of Estates

The affairs of someone who has passed away are always individual and vary widely across society.  At Tierneys, we provide a personal, tailored service appropriate to the individual circumstances in each case.  This means it is difficult to provide an accurate fee for dealing with an Estate without knowing the details of the matter beforehand.

Unlike some firms, we do not charge a percentage value of an estate.  We charge for our advice and the work we have to do on the basis of how much time it takes and what steps are involved. The final bill will, therefore, depend on how much work has been carried out during the process.

However, we have set out below a broad estimate of what we expect to charge for dealing with the most common kinds of estate we encounter.  We hope this provides a helpful guideline.

Our Fees

For estates over £650,000 it is much more difficult to give examples of likely costs. These estates are more complicated and will typically involve:

• a detailed consideration of the inheritance and other tax positions
• significant amounts of documentation and due diligence
• several or charitable beneficiaries
• properties, bank accounts and investments of a diverse nature.

We would expect our fees to start at £4,000 plus VAT, but we will provide a more accurate indication once we have full details of the estate and can assess the work which needs to be done.

What we take into account

We have based our estimate of fees on the amount of work we expect to do for a typical estate of this type. However, this estimate can change if we come across things which have not been included in this estimate, because they do not routinely crop up.

Typical examples of these can be

• investigation of the estate by the DWP or other government agency
• investigation or tracing of relatives or historic assets
• reclaiming of monies from 3^rd parties
• involvement of charitable beneficiaries
• non routine payments e.g. payments in foreign currency, to a bank account outside the UK, payments other than by next day bank transfer or BACS

All the above fees for Probate and Estate work are a guideline only.  For a more accurate indication, please contact us to discuss your individual circumstances. Please feel free to email us at probate@tierneyandco.co.uk

With all the areas of work we do, we will do our best to give you a clear idea of what the work will cost you.  However, where we are only able to provide a broad estimate of fees, or we cannot estimate what the final costs are likely to be, the work on your matter will be carried out at our various hourly rates for staff.  The basic hourly rates are set out below. These can increase, based on a number of factors, but we will tell you the relevant hourly rate at the start of the matter

Debt Recovery

We are accustomed to collecting debts for both individuals and Companies of all sizes.  Our service ranges from one off letters demanding payment for invoice(s), to more complex and detailed matters including bulk collections, contract disputes and contested debts.

Our turnaround times are swift and we employ well trained, experienced and approachable people to undertake the work we do.

Because the area of work varies so much, we can offer a variety of funding methods and have set out our broad terms below.

These terms may not suit all types of work and we will be happy to provide a bespoke service and costing if you ask us.

There are many types of dispute which are more than simply debt recovery.  These can include building disputes, contract disputes, partnership or any other dispute and we are unable to provide you with an estimate of these costs as they vary so widely. Our Hourly rates are set out at the foot of this page.

We do offer a consultation service with one of our Solicitors which may be more suitable for debts of a smaller amount (e.g. up to £5,000) or more complex matters. We charge a fixed consultation fee of £150.00 plus VAT. This provides for up to an hour of discussion, but does not include any advice in writing.  We will set out the relevant considerations and different options available to you in the meeting and you can then consider how you want to proceed.

In addition, we offer an ad hoc service to provide you with advice as and when you need it. This may be suitable for matters where you are conducting a matter yourself and need guidance and advice once in a while. We charge for this on the basis of the time spent (including reading preparation, review and interview time) and the fee will depend upon what level of solicitor deals with the matter for you. We always aim to keep costs down and, in doing so, we evaluate what level of experience and qualification your matter needs and, out of the Solicitors able to deal with your matter, we assign the Solicitor with the lowest hourly rate meaning that you get the advice you need at the lowest cost possible.

Our hourly rates are as follows:

We will be happy to provide you with more information on request. Please feel free to email us at debts@tierneyandco.co.uk

With all the areas of work we do, we will do our best to give you a clear idea of what the work will cost you.  However, where we are only able to provide a broad estimate of fees, or we cannot estimate what the final costs are likely to be, the work on your matter will be carried out at our various hourly rates for staff.  The basic hourly rates are set out below. These can increase, based on a number of factors, but we will tell you the relevant hourly rate at the start of the matter

Employment Work

If you have a work-related problem, either as an Employee or an Employer we can help.

From relatively straight forward matters such as Settlement Agreements to advice and guidance on part of the relevant procedure to taking or defending a claim through the tribunal process, we will be able to offer help.

We have set out our guideline costs below for issues usually faced by Employees.

In some circumstances your first consultation with us may be free. Often we can make a decision on whether we can help you after a telephone call and we can give you details of our retainer and what our charges are likely to be.

If you require further information, or have any questions, then please feel free to email us at employment@tierneyandco.co.uk

Settlement Agreements

We have a swift and efficient procedure for dealing with Settlement Agreements, otherwise known as Compromise Agreements, and can often see you very quickly. The process is invariably dealt with swiftly and with a minimum of time and fuss on your part.  The fees for this vary depending on a number of factors including the time involved, the complexity and the terms of the agreement itself.

We have a minimum fee of £500 plus VAT which reflects all the factors involved in dealing with the matter. Generally, we need to see any agreement before we can give you an accurate figure for the fee but usually it is between £500 and £700 plus VAT. We find that in most cases, employers make a contribution which covers our fees, though you are responsible for any shortfall. We should be able to establish this very quickly and will tell you if there is likely to be any shortfall.

The fee covers meeting you, discussing the terms of the agreement and the facts leading up to it, and providing you with advice as to your options. We generally budget for up to an hour with you – preferably in person but alternative methods may be available – along with the communication and administrative work connected with it. Providing you are content to sign the Settlement Agreement, we will take relieve you of the need to return the agreement to your employers and email your signed copy to the employer directly.

In the event that you instruct us to negotiate the terms of the settlement agreement on your behalf, there are additional fees and we will discuss these with you at the time. A Conditional Fee Agreement may be available in these circumstances.

Independent Advice and Guidance

There are many types of Employment matter and in some cases you may need some independent legal advice, guidance or a second opinion; after all, we are in business also and will have encountered many of the problems faced by people ourselves.

This service can often be of great assistance to Employers.

To help in this situation, we offer a paid consultation service where you can meet with one of our Solicitors and discuss the issue. We generally charge a fixed consultation fee of £150.00 plus VAT for this and this provides for up to an hour of work including reading any documents and meeting, discussing and advising you. The cost can rise in particularly complicated or time consuming cases, but this is relatively rare.

We will set out the relevant considerations and different options available to you in the meeting and you can then consider how you want to proceed.

The fee does not include any advice in writing, but we will be happy to provide you with this for an additional fee.

As an extension of this service, we offer an ad hoc service to provide you with advice as and when you need it. This may be suitable for matters where you are conducting a matter yourself and need guidance and advice once in a while. For example, we would be able to assist you with drafting the necessary paperwork when a claim is filed at the tribunal, or at any poinit during the proceedings.

We charge for this on the basis of the time spent (including reading, preparation, review and interview time) and the fee will depend upon what level of solicitor deals with the matter for you. We always aim to keep costs down and, in doing so, we evaluate which of our solicitors is best suited to help you.

Again, the service does not include advice in writing but we will be happy to provide this for you if you want us to.

As always, we are here to help and willing to do so. If you need any further clarification, feel free to contact us via email at employment@tierneyandco.co.uk or telephone us on 01709 709 000.

With all the areas of work we do, we will do our best to give you a clear idea of what the work will cost you.  However, where we are only able to provide a broad estimate of fees, or we cannot estimate what the final costs are likely to be, the work on your matter will be carried out at our various hourly rates for staff.  The basic hourly rates are set out below. These can increase, based on a number of factors, but we will tell you the relevant hourly rate at the start of the matter