Family Law Costs

Please note that the following information is for guidance only. We will provide you with a formal estimate for the cost involved in carrying out family work on your behalf after an initial consultation with you once we have all the necessary information to hand.

Change of Name Deed 

For a single Change of Name Deed we will charge £100.00 plus VAT charged at 20% (in addition to the £12.00 plus VAT Legl ID fee).

On occasions third parties (such as Foreign Embassies) may require not just a Change of Name Deed but a Statutory Declaration to put the change of name into context, giving an explanation as to why a person’s name may have changed over the years; we would advise you as to the likely cost of this if required.

A child’s Change of Name Deed will be £130.00 plus VAT charged at 20% but this will be subject to all parties with Parental Responsibility giving their approval and not being contrary to any Court Order.

Cohabitation, Pre or Post-Nuptial Agreement 

A Cohabitation Agreement can be entered into at any stage, both before and during cohabitation. It will set out the assets which each party has, how the outgoings will be funded during the cohabitation and what the parties intend to happen if they were to separate.

Both Pre and Post-Nuptial Agreements will similarly identify who is bringing which assets into the marriage, set out appropriate review dates and again, what the parties intend to happen upon divorce. It is important that the Pre-Nuptial Agreement is negotiated, drafted and signed well in advance of the marriage; if this is not possible, the parties can enter into a Post-Nuptial Agreement instead.

Post-Nuptial Agreements are often used for when the parties are still in a relationship and hope to remain together but they would like to ring-fence an asset received during the marriage such as a gift or an inheritance.

At present, and whilst both Pre and Post-Nuptial Agreements can be highly persuasive on a Court, nevertheless, as a matter of English Law, neither Agreements are automatically “binding”.

The level of fees for these Agreements will be dependent upon the complexity of the financial situation and again, a formal estimate will be provided after an initial consultation.

 

Applying for a divorce

The procedure for a “no fault divorce2 is in general a straightforward process and thus why we are able to offer a fixed fee which is £500.00 plus VAT charged at 20% (in addition to the Legl identification fee). There will be a Court fee payable which is currently £593.00 (likely to increase in April 2024).

In the event that the divorce becomes more complicated than expected, our work will be charged at the individual fee-earner’s hourly rate.

The potential trigger events for a straightforward fixed fee divorce becoming chargeable on an individual basis are:-

1. If there is no Marriage Certificate.
2. If the Marriage Certificate needs to be translated.
3. If the other party cannot be found.
4. If the other party refuses to acknowledge receipt of the divorce papers.

Currently the Law determines that, from start to finish, the divorce cannot take any less than 26 weeks although it can be far longer than that and indeed you may be advised not to apply for the Final Order (which dissolves the marriage) until after the financial claims have been resolved.

Children 

If issues occur as to the arrangements for the children these will be treated separately to those issues within a divorce or finances.

Until the exact circumstances of the family situation is known, it will be difficult to estimate how much the costs will be to eventually resolve all matters and the complexities within children applications can for example be:-

1. Whether the Court requires a “Finding of Fact” Hearing.
2. Is there an overseas element.
3. May there have to be drug or alcohol testing.
4. Does there have to be professional supervision of contact with the children in the interim.
5. Whether there needs to be psychological or psychiatric testing.
6. Will there should be any therapeutic intervention.
7. Is the other parent non-cooperative in respect of the whole process.

Finances

When parties separate the financial arrangements are not automatically resolved within the divorce process. The parties can be divorced from each other for many years but if their finances have not been actively dealt with, both parties can potentially still make claims against the other.

As with issues regarding children, it can be difficult to estimate how much the cost would be to eventually resolve all matters and the complexities can be:-

1. Is there an overseas element.
2. Do there have to be independent valuations by Single Joint Experts of properties, businesses and pensions.
3. Are there are pre or post acquired assets.
4. Has a party received any gift or inheritance during the course of the marriage.
5. Are there any young dependant children preventing a party from going out to work or indeed are the parties retired and therefore cannot increase their own incomes.
6. Are there any health issues preventing working.
7. There may be assets held in Trust Funds.
8. There may be no cooperation by the other party.
9. There may be non-compliance by the other party being in breach of a Court Order.

Once the full history to the marriage/separation is known, we will be able to give you an estimate of the likely fees.

There are two fee-earners in the department whose rates are as follows:

            Lindsey Canning                         Director                                      £290.00 plus VAT charged at 20% per hour

            Victoria Walker                            Family Law Executive               £160.00 plus VAT charged at 20% per hour

The explore our all Family & Divorce services click here.
To make a general enquiry online please click the 'contact us' button. Or to speak to our team, call 0114 266 6660.