IHOURLY RATE
If not a fixed fee, our fee will be charged at our hourly rate broken down into units. A unit is six minutes. The manner in which we calculate our fee and the hourly rate that we use will either be included in our terms of business sent to you at the outset or otherwise indicated to you in writing. At the present time our hourly rate for all qualified solicitors is £210 plus VAT charged at the rate of 20%. Each unit is £21 & VAT.
As stated, the manner in which we calculate our fee based upon the hourly rate will be set out in our terms of business. The following is an extract:-
“… our fees will be charged on the basis of time spent on the work which we are carrying out on your behalf. This includes meetings, telephone calls, perusing documents, attendance at court, travelling and waiting time.
You will be charged as follows:-
a. (i) Drawing and revising deeds intended to have contractual effect, court writs, court pleadings, affidavits, inventories and the like – 5 units per sheet of 250 words
(ii) Other papers to include transfers, minutes of meetings – 3 units per sheet of 250 words
b. Copying (no charge up to 50 pages in the whole matter) over 50 pages – 0.02 units per copy
c. (i) Time spent conducting a trial, proof or debate before a court, tribunal, licensing board etc. – 12 units per hour
(ii) All other time spent where not otherwise provided for – 10 units per hour
d. Letters (except as aftermentioned), faxes, emails – 1.25 units per page of 125 words.
e. Formal letters (i.e. acknowledgements and confirmatory letters) – 0.5 units
f. Telephone calls – 1 unit per 6 minutes
g. Formal telephone calls (i.e. acknowledging or confirming) – 0.5 units
h. Posts, stationery, photocopying, faxing and incidents – 5% of total fee
i. Mileage – 50p per mile
Please note that VAT will be charged at the rate of 20%. If opening a file for you, our fees will be no less than £120 to include VAT.
Although we attempt to give an estimate of fees and outlays at the outset, it is very difficult to estimate fees in some types of cases.
EXECUTRIES (THE ADMINISTRATION OF A PERSON’S ESTATE AFTER DEATH)
Executry administration is the term used by solicitors for the work required in winding up the estate of someone who has died. It is an area where it is difficult, and often impossible, to give accurate levels/estimates of fees in advance. It also makes a difference to the amount of work required whether or not there is available a valid Will signed by the deceased – more work and other costs are likely if there is no Will. The work may involve meetings and consultations between the family/executor and the solicitor, collating and valuing the assets and liabilities of the estate, corresponding with financial and other institutions (e.g. banks, building societies, share registrars, employers/pension administrators, DWP, HMRC, council tax departments, factors, mortgage lenders and more), preparing HMRC Inheritance Tax documents, court documents and forms for Confirmation (Scottish equivalent of Probate), dealing with the Sheriff Court processing the forms, ingathering the financial estate (i.e. collecting in all the money), accounting to the executor and liaising with and distributing the bequests and shares of estate among beneficiaries.
There may also be a home/heritable property to sell or settle. That work is not included in any estimate of fees and outlays that we may provide for executry administration. As it is a conveyancing process please see below.
Outlays may include Court Confirmation dues (at the time of writing £266.00 for an estate worth over £50,000.00 but less than £250,000.00 but please see www.scotcourts.gov.uk for up to date amounts) plus £8 for each individual asset certificate if needed (again subject to increase by SCTS). Further outlays will be incurred if assets need to be independently valued.
If an individual dies without leaving a Will there may be additional outlays and these vary from case to case and can be confirmed with your point of contact should you instruct us. It may be necessary to raise an insurance policy known as a Bond of Caution and the price for that will be dictated by the gross value of the estate.
When we are dealing with executry estates and trusts we may charge commission on revenue and capital. The commission on revenue will not exceed 5% of interest and dividends received. The commission on capital will not exceed 1% on money uplifted from banks and building societies, 1% on policies of insurance and assurance, 1.5% on stocks, shares and other periodical payments and 1% on heritable estate forming part of the executry or trust. In addition, we shall charge an additional fee based on the value of the estate at the rate of 0.5% of the value of moveable estate, 0.5% on heritable property such as houses if transferred or sold and 0.25% on heritage transferred by docquet.
In executries the fee will be assessed by a law accountant and the fee for that assessment will be charged as an outlay to the estate. The amount of that outlay varies significantly and depends on the value of the estate.
PERSONAL INJURY CASES
Once you have had a discussion with someone from McKenzies, either by phone or face to face about your circumstances, we will be able to give you an initial indication as to whether we believe you have grounds to pursue your case for compensation.
We will at that point discuss with you the different funding options available such as Legal Aid and No Win No Fee and will decide upon a funding option which is tailored to your specific needs.
CRIMINAL DEFENCE
This firm undertakes a wide range of criminal court work including representation in the Justice of the Peace Court, Sheriff Court and High Court.
A solicitor from our office will usually be available to discuss matters briefly by telephone and to indicate whether or not any particular issue is one in which we can assist, whether or not legal aid funding (legal advice and assistance and legal aid) is likely to be available and at what cost private instructions would be accepted per our hourly rate as stated above. We cannot undertake work without funding and generally payment will be required to allow work to progress based on a reasonable estimate of the work to be done. It is likely that we will require payment from you as the case progresses. Our office systems keep track of the work done as the case progresses.
Criminal Cases Including Motor Offences
Criminal offences including road traffic matters can be complex and the facts of each case are unique. We need to understand the difficulties in which you find yourself and how you would have these answered. It may or may not be that you accept any fault at all. It may be possible to make representations to the Prosecutor so as to stop a case reported by the police or other agency for consideration for prosecution actually going to court. You may require us to bring all possible resources to bear in the hope that you will be acquitted (found Not Guilty) of any criminal allegation or, in the alternative it may be that we will require to manage the case to your best advantage and to see for you the most preferential outcome.
Guilty Plea at the Outset
Even where it is apparent that you will have to plead guilty, it is often appropriate to carry out background enquiry and to speak with the prosecutor about the detail of the case our experience indicates fees will be incurred to the level between £360.00 and £1200.00 including VAT to resolve the case at an early stage always ensuring that a full explanation for and mitigation of the events can be offered.
Not Guilty Plea
When a Not Guilty plea is intimated and the case is continued to Trial fees are likely to be incurred at a level of between £840.00 and £2500.00 including VAT for work up to and including the first Intermediate Diet. This is a date before a Trial when parties are required to attend court and confirm to the Sheriff whether or not the case is prepared. We will often agree on an instruction fee or fixed fee in this case. Additional fees will be incurred following the first Intermediate Diet most likely in the range of £720.00 to £1800.00 including VAT assuming the matter is likely to proceed to a trial on a single day only. As required in any case our fees would include taking instructions from you, providing advice, obtaining all necessary information from the police and the Procurator Fiscal, obtaining required documents and reviewing these, providing full advice on your options, possible court disposals, court representation and correspondence.
Please note that these are an indication of price ranges only as we have already stated all cases are individual and a tailored indication of fees will be provided at the point when we are accepting instructions.
Sheriff And Jury/ High Court Prosecution
These cases are likely to be far more serious in their nature and far more involved in their circumstances. We will generally give you an indication of costs based on our reasonable pre-estimate of the time required of any given case. We will most likely charge an instruction fee and will always seek to advise you in advance when further fees will be required. We will seek to agree on these with you. There is no typical case so far as prosecutions at the higher level in Scottish Courts are concerned. It may be that with our best endeavours the prosecution could be discontinued at an early stage in which case fees of approximately £1000.00 plus VAT can be anticipated. This firm has however been instructed in lengthy and complex matters where the work required has incurred fees extending to many tens of thousands of pounds.
FIXED FEES
We charge fixed fees for buying or selling property, other non-commercial conveyancing work, wills, powers of attorney, simplified divorce, an undefended divorce action, some immigration work, applying for civil legal aid, some adoption applications and for notarising or certifying documents. We may elect to charge higher fixed fees or charge at our hourly rate as narrated above if the work is unusually complex or time consuming.
CONVEYANCING (INCLUDING BUYING OR SELLING PROPERTY)
If you contact us we will be able to quote to you a fixed fee for buying or selling your house or other conveyancing work. As already stated, the amount of our fees and outlays may change if there is a complication in your case, a change of instruction or considerably more work than first anticipated but we will let you know if that is the case.
As an example of a fixed fee, our fee for purchasing an average value house (between £100,000 and £150,000) is £650 plus VAT of £130 and outlays. The outlays will include dues to Registers of Scotland. At the time of writing those are £490 for registering the title, £20 for registering an advance notice and if you are taking out a mortgage, £70 to register the mortgage (Please note that those outlays are set by Registers of Scotland and are increased from time to time. Up to date amounts can be found on https://kb.ros.gov.uk/fees/registration-fees). We will charge a CHAPS fee of £30 to transfer funds from our account to that of the seller or their solicitors.
Please note that your purchase may be subject to LBTT (Land and Buildings Transaction Tax). This is not an outlay as such but a tax imposed by the Scottish Government. We will arrange payment if you are able to place us in funds. For information on the tax please see https://www.revenue.scot/land-buildings-transaction-tax/tax-calculator/lbtt-property-transactions-calculator.
For a sale, our fixed fee for selling an average value house shall be £750 plus VAT of £150 and outlays. There will be outlays payable to the Registers of Scotland, including £70 to register a discharge of any mortgage or loan secured against the property and £20 for registering an advanced notice (Please note that those outlays are set by Registers of Scotland and are increased from time to time. Up to date amounts can be found on https://kb.ros.gov.uk/fees/registration-fees). We will charge a CHAPS fee of £30 for transferring money from our account to a mortgage provider. We may have to instruct a search on the Registers database and the fee for that can vary but an example would be £150.
Any post settlement issues are charged at our hourly rate and are not included in the fixed fee. We charge an additional fee of £15 plus VAT at the rate of 20% for archiving your file. If we have to carry out additional work to satisfy the Money Laundering Regulations, we shall charge an additional fee for that work. A typical fee for that would be £50 plus VAT at the rate of 20%.
LEASING
We can offer a fixed fee for drawing up a tenancy at the start of a tenancy or serving notices on the tenant at the end of a tenancy. Those fees start from £175 plus VAT at the rate of 20%. Please contact us for a quote.
WILLS AND POWER OF ATTORNEY
Our set fees for a straightforward will or power of attorney are contained in the below table. Please note that we may charge a higher fee if your will or power of attorney is unusually complex. For example, we may charge a higher fee if there is Inheritance Tax planning involved, there are a large number of beneficiaries or unusual beneficiaries, there is a complex trust arrangement or there is a change of instruction. Please note that if you require a home or hospital visit the we will charge an additional fee for spending time traveling out to meet you. The fees below are from the point of taking instructions to the completion and execution of the document. Please note that for Powers of Attorney, there will be a registration fee. The amount of the registration fee is set by the Office of the Public Guardian and can be found on their website, www.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk. Our fees are as follows:-
MISCELLANEOUS FEE VAT TOTAL
Power of Attorney - Single £250.00 + £81.00 reg dues £50.00 £381.00
Power of Attorney – Couple £400.00 + £162.00 reg dues £80.00 £642.00
Will – Single £150.00 £30.00 £180.00
Will - Couple £225.00 £45.00 £270.00
SIMPLIFIED DIVORCE
A Simplified Divorce is a divorce using the simplified procedure in terms of the Court rules. It can be used for divorces on the grounds of one year separation with your spouse’s consent or two years separation where there are no children of the marriage under 16 years of age and neither party is making a financial claim in the proceedings. The procedure is straightforward so our fees and outlays are lower than normal divorce actions. We charge £250 plus Vat and outlays. There is an outlay for lodging the application with the Court as set by the Scottish Government and which can be found on the Court website, www.scotcourts.gov.uk. We ask that you provide the marriage certificate. Our fee is for all work directly related to the divorce action from taking instructions to obtaining extract decree.
UNDEFENDED ORDINARY DIVORCE ACTIONS
We elect to charge a set fee for undefended divorce actions as the amount of work involved is more predictable than defended divorce actions. If the opponent in the case defends the action then all fees will be charged at our hourly rate. It is not always known at the outset whether a divorce action will be defended or not. Our fee is for all work directly related to the divorce action from the point of taking instructions to obtaining decree of divorce. We charge £695 plus Vat at the rate of 20% and outlays. We ask that you provide the marriage certificate and the birth certificates for any children of the marriage. There are outlays payable to the Court for lodging the writ and an affidavit fee. Again, they can be found on the Court website www.scotcourts.gov.uk and are increased from time to time. There may be additional outlays such as instructing Sheriff Officers to serve Court papers. Sheriff Officers fees vary depending on the circumstances.
APPLYING FOR CIVIL LEGAL AID
There may be cases where either we do not offer advice and assistance legal aid or you do not qualify for that type of legal aid but we apply on your behalf for civil legal aid to meet the fees and outlays of a Court action. There can be a considerable amount of work involved in applying for civil legal aid to include the initial meeting with you, obtaining and preparing precognitions, completing the form and submitting that form to SLAB. We shall charge £480 to include VAT for that work. Again, there may be cases where more work is involved and we may elect to charge a higher fixed fee or charge at our hourly rate. As an example, we do not routinely offer Advice and Assistance legal aid in Guardianship applications. In those cases, we will charge £480 to include Vat up until the point that legal aid is granted.
ADOPTION APPLICATIONS
We are often contacted by persons who have been approved to adopt a child by the local authority and need to instruct a solicitor for the application to the Court. In some cases the local authority will agree to meet that persons fees and outlays. We charge a set fee of £1000 plus VAT at the rate of 20% and outlays for such applications if the application is not contested. If the application is contested, we would charge in line with our terms and conditions as outlined above. The outlays will include a fee payable to the Court. The amount of that outlay increases from time to time and can be found on the Court website www.scotcourts.gov.uk. There will be a curator’s report. The cost of those reports vary. There may also be Sheriff Officer fees for serving the application and again they can vary depending on the circumstances.
NOTARY
We charge a fee of £75 plus Vat at the rate of 20% to notarise a document. That fee covers our meeting with you to notarise a document, identifying you as a client and keeping a record of the document notarised in line with our data protection policies and procedures.
LEGAL AID
We offer legal aid for some of the work that we do. Our fees for legal aid work are set by the Scottish Government through the Scottish Legal Aid Board. Legal aid is not always free and there may be circumstances where you have to pay a contribution or pay your fees and outlays at the conclusion of the case. It is not practicable to detail all the different possibilities here. SLAB have information for the public on their website www.slab.org.uk.
