Court costs for family law proceedings

Labtec81

Hi,

Is there any forum users got a solicitor representing them in family law proceedings as I've been in touch with a solicitor that said for the first hour it costs £250 for the initial consultation and that during that consultation I would be told what the cost would be for representation and that the solicitor in question has a system that allows the cost to be spread over 4 months and that it's a fixed fee but I wanted to know if any other forum users have instructed a solicitor to represent them and what the cost was because if for example they said it would be £4000 there's no way I could afford that even if spread over 4 months, if I had that kind of money it wouldn't be a problem but unfortunately I don't.

Thank you

gizmo111

£250 per hour is the average rate - total costs vary and if you are looking at going to a contested final hearing costs of around 10 - 15K in total are not unusual.

sassyblue

I don’t want to put you off knowing your story but that’s an average cost and was for the family lawyer I worked for.  Knowing the background a bit to your matter I think £4,000 could be a conservative estimate…..

I would find one who would accept instalments, the one I worked for was happy to accept £250 per month towards costs (well she wasn’t happy but she accepted it)  but the trouble she had was that people would tire of paying it a couple of years after their matter ended which is not fair.

Labtec81

sassyblue said:

I don’t want to put you off knowing your story but that’s an average cost and was for the family lawyer I worked for.  Knowing the background a bit to your matter I think £4,000 could be a conservative estimate…..

I would find one who would accept instalments, the one I worked for was happy to accept £250 per month towards costs (well she wasn’t happy but she accepted it)  but the trouble she had was that people would tire of paying it a couple of years after their matter ended which is not fair.

Who was it you worked for?? You can PM me if you don't want to say on the forum. Because I don't know of any that would accept only £250 per month

strawb_shortcake

When a family member thought they'd have to go to court for access to their child they were told to assume costs of £20k.
Before it got that far the other parent decided they didn't want the child full time so my family member ended up with full custody and now goes to the other parent one or two weekends a month.

74jax

Labtec81 said:

sassyblue said:

I don’t want to put you off knowing your story but that’s an average cost and was for the family lawyer I worked for.  Knowing the background a bit to your matter I think £4,000 could be a conservative estimate…..

I would find one who would accept instalments, the one I worked for was happy to accept £250 per month towards costs (well she wasn’t happy but she accepted it)  but the trouble she had was that people would tire of paying it a couple of years after their matter ended which is not fair.

Who was it you worked for?? You can PM me if you don't want to say on the forum. Because I don't know of any that would accept only £250 per month

You say you have only contacted 1. 
For something like this it might be best to Google and call etc 

Labtec81

sassyblue said:

I would find one who would accept instalments, the one I worked for was happy to accept £250 per month towards costs (well she wasn’t happy but she accepted it)  but the trouble she had was that people would tire of paying it a couple of years after their matter ended which is not fair.

You know what if any solicitor helped me get to see my children I'd have no issues with paying them back every month even after a couple of years purely based on morals, if they helped me see my children I would owe them 'EVERYTHING' that's how much it would mean to me.

Labtec81

74jax said:

Labtec81 said:

sassyblue said:

I don’t want to put you off knowing your story but that’s an average cost and was for the family lawyer I worked for.  Knowing the background a bit to your matter I think £4,000 could be a conservative estimate…..

I would find one who would accept instalments, the one I worked for was happy to accept £250 per month towards costs (well she wasn’t happy but she accepted it)  but the trouble she had was that people would tire of paying it a couple of years after their matter ended which is not fair.

Who was it you worked for?? You can PM me if you don't want to say on the forum. Because I don't know of any that would accept only £250 per month

You say you have only contacted 1. 
For something like this it might be best to Google and call etc 

Yes that's right and I did use Google as well as come here for real people's knowledge as Google is very vague and I did contact a few from Google but am waiting to hear back from them. 

TBagpuss

Some solicitors have fixed fees but it's not common for family proceedings (except for a divorce) as they can vary so widely. 

For instance, if a case is settled at the first appointment after Cafcass provided their safeguarding letter, the costs are going to be a lot lower than if there are multiple hearings and lots of additional evidence from witnesses, schools ,etc. At the fir appointment the solicitor would probably want to talk with you about the case as it stands, to let them make an educated estimate about what the likely costs will be.  Without that, no solicitor is likely to be able to give you a definitive quote - they might be able to say "It will likely tbe between £5,000 and £20,000 but won't be able to be more exact without having reviewed the case. 

Similarly, it's very rare that a solicitor would be able to agree to having their bill paid off slowly in installments over months or years - if they do that, they are effectively lending you the money for your costs, which is bad business and also an issue as they are unlikely to be authorised by the FSA to be offering loans! 

The £250 is probably per hour and pre-VAT. 

sassyblue

No, it’s the minimum she accepted for a particular client to get her money in. Don’t assume it was EVERY client, it wasn’t, it was just him, his eventual circumstances and she wanted her bill paid off.