Pricing

Probate

Legal costs

There are two main elements to the legal costs of obtaining a grant of probate and distributing an estate:

our charges; and
expenses we must pay out of your behalf

Our charges

We charge a price of 1% of the value of the assets in the estate, and 0.75% of the value of the home. Alternatively, we may price our work based on an hourly rate, which will range from £250 – £450 per hour. We may also charge an additional fee of £25 for office administration and £25 for banking administration. We charge a further £20 for Anti Money Laundering compliance.

If a matter or transaction does not reach a conclusion, we reserve the right to charge for the work done, using our normal charging basis (£250 – £450 per hour), which will depend on the person carrying out the work. This applies even where a fixed rate has been agreed for the whole matter.

The above charges do not include VAT, which we will add to your bill at the prevailing rate. The rate of VAT is currently 20%. For example, if our charges are £5,000, when VAT is added, the total bill will be £6,000.

Expenses

Even where our charges are fixed, we would usually expect to incur certain expenses your behalf which we will also add to your bill. The amount of expenses can vary and the following is an estimate only:

Expense	Estimated amount	VAT chargeable
Probate application fee	£273	no
Stamped office copies of grant of probate	£1.50 per copy	no
Land Charges Bankruptcy searches for beneficiaries	£2	no
Section 27 notice	£80	yes (additional £16)

Estimated total legal costs

We estimate that the total cost of applying for the grant of probate and distributing the estate will be in the range of £1,500 – £10,000, including our charges, the expenses we expect to pay on your behalf and VAT.

This estimate includes:

our charges;
Probate Registry fees;
The cost of obtaining stamped office copies of the grant of probate;
VAT at the prevailing rate of 20%

Additional costs

The ‘Estimated total legal costs’ shown above assumes there is a valid will, no inheritance tax to pay and the estate does not include any shareholdings. Additional amounts may be payable for our charges and/or expenses if there is no will, the assets or tax situation are complex or distribution of the estate is contested.

The ‘Estimated total legal costs’ specifically does not include:

The sale of transfer of any property forming part of the estate;
Providing tax advice or dealing with HMRC about inheritance tax;
Dealing with any overseas assets; or
Dealing with any Department for Work & Pensions claims on the estate

Likely timescale and key stages

Probate matters usually take between four to twelve months from receiving your instructions to completing the distribution of the estate. This is on the basis that the transaction proceeds relatively smoothly without unexpected complications. If any complications of any nature arise the matter will take longer. We will advise you if and when this occurs.

Most matters of this nature involve the following key stages:

Obtaining a list of assets and getting valuations ~ 3 months;
Drafting the Estate return and legal statement ~ 2 weeks;
Applying for the grant of probate ~ 4 months;
Post-grant collecting/selling off assets ~ 12 weeks
Finalising estate accounts and distributing the estate ~ 6 weeks

Our expertise

Our team has over 90 years of collective experience in delivering high-quality work in all matters relating to probate. The team has particular expertise in dealing with high value estates, and estates which include assets outside of the UK.

For details of the members of the team who may work on your matter, please see: https://patronlaw.co.uk/the-team. Regardless of who works on your matter, they will be supervised by Benjamin May.

View our Probate services

Residential Conveyancing

Legal costs

There are two main elements to the legal costs of residential conveyancing:

our charges; and
expenses we must pay out of your behalf

Our charges

We charge a fixed price starting at £1,750 and increasing to up to 0.2% of the purchase price for the property, depending on the complexity of the transaction, the purchase price, whether we are also acting for a lender and whether the title is freehold or leasehold. In addition, we charge an office and banking administration fee of £50. We also charge an Anti Money Laundering compliance fee of £20.

If a matter or transaction does not reach a conclusion, we reserve the right to charge for the work done, using our normal hourly rates (£250-£450 per hour), which will depend on the person carrying out the work. This applies even where a fixed rate has been agreed for the whole matter.

The above charges do not include VAT, which we will add to your bill at the prevailing rate. The rate of VAT is currently 20%. For example, if our charges are £2,000, when VAT is added, the total bill will be £2,400.

Expenses

Even where our charges are fixed, we would usually expect to incur certain expenses on your behalf which we will also add to your bill. The amount of expenses can vary and the following is an estimate only:

Expense	Estimated amount	VAT chargeable
Land Registry official copies	£3 per title register or plan	no
Land Registry registration fee for purchasers	£20 – £455 (based on value of transaction)	no
Land Charges Bankruptcy search for purchasers	£2	no
Land Registry official search for purchasers	£3	no
Property searches for purchasers	£250 – £350	yes
Management company administration fee for leasehold properties	According to the lease, but typically £20-200	yes
Deed of Covenant for leasehold properties	According to the lease, but typically £20-200
Stamp Duty Land Tax for purchasers	According to latest applicable rates	no

Estimated total legal costs

We estimate that the total cost of residential conveyancing will be in the range of £2,130 – £12,886, including our charges, the expenses we expect to pay on your behalf and VAT. In addition, there may be Stamp Duty Land Tax payable which is calculated as a percentage of the purchase price, where applicable.

This estimate includes:

our charges;
Land Registry fees and expenses;
The cost of carrying out searches;
VAT at the prevailing rate of 20%.

Additional costs

The ‘Estimated total legal costs’ shown above assumes that the more common types of property searches are carried out. Additional amounts may be payable for our charges and/or expenses if less common searches are required, or if the results of our enquiries. Furthermore, if the transaction is a purchase, there may be Stamp Duty Land Tax payable. For leasehold transactions, there may be management company or landlord fees to be paid.

The ‘Estimated total legal costs’ specifically does not include:

Stamp Duty Land Tax;
Management company or landlord fees.

Likely timescale and key stages

Residential conveyancing matters usually take between two to four months from receiving your instructions to completion. This is on the basis that the transaction proceeds relatively smoothly without unexpected complications. If any complications of any nature arise the matter will take longer. We will advise you if and when this occurs.

Most matters of this nature involve the following key stages:

Reviewing title documents and the draft contract ~ 2 week;
Pre-contract enquiries and searches ~ 4 weeks;
Exchange of contracts and pre-completion matters ~ 2 weeks;
Completion and post-completion tasks ~ 4 weeks.

Our expertise

Our team has over 115 years of collective experience in delivering high-quality work in all matters relating to residential conveyancing. The team has particular expertise in sales and purchases of high value leasehold and freehold properties, along with re-mortgaging and bridging finance.

For details of the members of the team who may work on your matter, please see: https://patronlaw.co.uk/the-team. Regardless of who works on your matter, they will be supervised by Alexander Zivancevic.

View our Residential Conveyancing services

Employment Disputes

(Unfair/Wrongful dismissal – Employers and employees)

Legal costs

Below are our costs for providing advice and representation to you in:

defending an unfair or wrongful dismissal Claim if you are an employer; or
bringing an unfair or wrongful dismissal Claim in an Employment Tribunal, if you are an employee.

There are three main elements to the legal costs of employment disputes:

our charges;
expenses we must pay out of your behalf; and
costs that you may have to pay another party.

Our charges

Our hourly rate is £375 per hour, but we reserve the right to increase the hourly rates if the work done is particularly complex or urgent, or the nature of the instruction requires us to work outside normal office hours. If this happens, we will notify you in advance and agree an appropriate rate.

The exact number of hours it will take depends on the circumstances of your case. We will advise of what level of complexity your case has when you instruct us and advise you as soon as practicable if this changes.

If a matter does not reach a conclusion, we reserve the right to charge for the work done, using our normal charging basis of £375 per hour. This applies even where a fixed rate has been agreed for the whole matter.

Our charges do not include VAT, which we will add to your bill at the prevailing rate, currently 20%.

Expenses

We would usually expect to incur certain expenses on your behalf, which we will also add to your bill. We cannot give an exact figure for expenses we will incur on your behalf, but this is likely to be in the region of £3,000, not including barrister’s fees which will depend on their involvement in your case and the complexity of your case but will usually range between £2,000-£15,000.

Costs you may have to pay another party

In some types of litigation, the losing party may be ordered to pay their opponent’s legal costs. This will depend on the nature and value of the dispute. We will advise you about this risk at the outset of your matter and discuss what steps can be taken to minimise it, e.g. buying insurance. Most commonly in employment cases, both sides will bear their own costs.

Estimated total legal costs

We estimate that the total cost of the employment claim will be in the range of £9,000 – £48,000 , including our charges, the expenses we expect to pay on your behalf. and VAT.

Relatively simple cases which reach final hearing are likely to range between £9,000 – £12,000.
Medium complexity cases are likely to range from £12,000 – £23,000 and
Complex cases between £23,000 – £48,000.

Cases are likely to be more complex if:

applications are required to be made or defended (including costs applications);
the Claim (when we represent an employer) or Response (when we represent an employee) has been brought by a litigant in person;
there are preliminary issues which are not agreed, such as whether the employee bringing the Claim is disabled;
there are more documents or more witnesses;
the dismissal is linked to other claims, such as a discrimination claim;
the employee is more senior and so there are more benefits and a higher potential settlement figure to consider; and
the Final Hearing for the case is listed for more than 1 day in an Employment Tribunal.

This estimate includes:

our charges;
Barrister charges;
VAT at the prevailing rate of 20%.

Additional costs

The ‘Estimated total legal costs’ shown above assumes that the matter will be resolved at the Employment Tribunal and any award of damages is paid.

The ‘Estimated total legal costs’ specifically does not include:

Any required travelling costs;
Costs related to production of Employment Tribunal documentation;
Expert reports;
Any appeal procedure;
Enforcement action to enforce any ruling;
Drafting, advising or negotiating the terms of a settlement agreement on your behalf.

Insurance

You may have insurance cover for employment related litigation. If your insurer deems that you have prospects of success in excess of 50%, agrees to cover your legal costs and is prepared to agree to our terms of service, we are able in some cases to represent you at your insurer’s cost.

Likely timescale and key stages

Employment disputes usually take between six and fourteen months from receiving your instructions to reaching a conclusion if they reach final hearing but could take as little as six weeks if Pre-Claim Conciliation is successful in resolving the Claim. This is on the basis that the case proceeds relatively smoothly without unexpected complications and will also depend on the directions issued by the Employment Tribunal. If any complications of any nature arise the matter will take longer. We will advise you if and when this occurs.

Most matters of this nature involve the following key stages:

Taking initial instructions and reviewing evidence;
Advising on potential claims, merits and likely monetary value of these claims (which is subject to change as your matter progresses);
ACAS Early Conciliation advice and guidance if you have not already completed this by the time you instruct us;
Drafting and advising on your ET 1 Claim and reviewing your employer’s ET3 response (when representing an employee) or advising on your employee’s ET 1 Claim and preparing an ET3 Response (when representing an employer);
Without Prejudice conversations and correspondence to explore settlement;
Drafting a schedule of loss (when representing an employee) or considering and advising on the employee’s schedule of loss or compensation being claimed (when representing an employer);
Preparation (and sometimes attendance) at a Preliminary Hearing;
Drafting witness statements and preparing the bundle for disclosure (the employer usually prepares the bundle);
Exchange of witness statements;
Reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements;
Agreeing a List of Issues, a Chronology and/or Cast List;
Preparing for the Final Hearing at the Employment Tribunal; and
The hearing itself.

Some of the above stages may of course not be required and so we can give you more accurate information relating to your case once we have more specific details.

Some of the above stages will be carried out by us and some will be carried out by an employment barrister, depending on the individual case. If a barrister is engaged for any of the above stages, we will make you aware of this and ask for money on account to pay their agreed fees, in advance. We will then make payment to the barrister on your behalf.

Our expertise

Our team has over 50 years of collective experience in delivering high-quality work in all matters relating to Employment law.

View our Employment Disputes services

Immigration

Legal costs

There are two main elements to the legal costs of immigration work:

our charges; and
expenses we must pay out of your behalf

Our charges

Our hourly rate varies within the team between £250 and £375 per hour, depending on who performs the work on your behalf, but we reserve the right to increase the hourly rates if the work done is particularly complex or urgent, or the nature of the instruction requires us to work outside normal office hours. If this happens, we will notify you in advance and agree an appropriate rate.

The exact number of hours it will take depends on the type of work you ask us to do, and on the specifics and complexity of your circumstances. Typically, our fees for straightforward matters would be as follows:

Applications for non-EEA citizens:

Visitor visa – £2,500 – £6,000
Entry clearance – £2,000 – £15,000
Leave to remain – £2,000 – £12,000
Indefinite Leave to Remain – £2,500 – £8,000; and
Citizenship – £1,000 – £3,500

For example, our fees for an Entry Clearance application in the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) category would be £7,500 (exclusive of VAT and expenses, and assuming 20 hours of work)

Applications for EEA citizens:

Registration card – £1,500 – £3,500; and
Permanent Residence – £1,500 – £3,500.

If a matter does not reach a conclusion, we reserve the right to charge for the work done, using the applicable hourly rate that has been agreed at the outset. This applies even where a fixed rate has been agreed for the whole matter.

Expenses

We would usually expect to incur certain expenses your behalf which we will also add to your bill. These are likely to include:

Home Office fees;
Barrister’s fees, which will be agreed in advance;
Translation fees; and
NARIC language confirmation at £150 per qualification (expedited service)

On occasion we may also use couriers within the UK and for international deliveries and their costs can vary depending on the urgency of delivery and location.

Our expertise

Our team has over 20 years of collective experience in delivering high-quality work in all matters relating to Immigration law.

View our Immigration Services

Complaints

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service and to dealing with all our clients fairly. We acknowledge that we may not always get it right so if something has gone wrong, including in relation to the bill, we need you to tell us.

How do I make a complaint?

You can contact us in writing (by letter, fax or email) or by speaking with our complaints manager, whose contact details are:
Benjamin May
Managing Partner
0203 841 7477

benjamin.may@patronlaw.co.uk

To help us to understand your complaint, and in order that we do not miss anything, please tell us:
Your full name and contact details
What you think we have got wrong
What you hope to achieve as a result of your complaint, and
Your file reference number (if you have it)

If you require any help in making your complaint we will try to help you.

How will you deal with my complaint?

We will record your complaint centrally.

We will write to you within 7 working days acknowledging your complaint, enclosing a copy of this policy.

We will investigate your complaint. This will usually involve:
reviewing your complaint
reviewing your file(s) and other relevant documents, and
speaking with the person who dealt with your matter

We may also need to ask you for further information or documents. If so, we will ask you to provide the information within a specific period of time.

We will update you on the progress of your complaint at appropriate times.

We may also, if appropriate, invite you to a meeting to discuss your complaint. You do not have to attend if you do not wish to or if you are unable to. We will be happy to discuss the matter with you on the telephone.

We will write to you at the end of our investigation to tell you what we have done and what we propose to do to resolve your complaint. Where possible, we will aim to do this within 4 weeks of receiving your complaint.

What if I am not satisfied with the outcome?

If you are unhappy with the outcome of our complaints handling procedure please first let us know and we will review the matter. We will aim to complete our further review and write to you with our final response within 8 weeks of receiving your complaint.

If you are still unhappy you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to look into your complaint. You can contact the Legal Ombudsman:
by post at PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
by telephone: 0300 555 0333, or
by email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

You must usually refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final written response to your complaint and within six years of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring (or within three years of you becoming aware of it). Further details are available on the website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk.

Alternative complaints bodies (such as ProMediate) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. We have, however, chosen not to adopt an ADR process. If, therefore, you wish to complain further, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman.

If we are unable to resolve your complaint, and it relates to a contract we entered into online or by other electronic means, you may also be able to submit your complaint to a certified alternative dispute resolution (ADR) provider in the UK via the EU ‘ODR platform’.

The ODR platform is an interactive website offering a single point of entry for disputes between consumers and traders relating to online contracts. The ODR platform is available to consumer clients only, i.e. where you have instructed us for purposes outside your trade, business, craft or profession.

The website address for the ODR platform is: http://ec.europa.eu/odr.

What will it cost?

We will not charge you for handling your complaint.

Please note that if we have issued a bill for work done on the matter, and all or some of the bill is not paid, we may be entitled to charge interest on the amount outstanding.

The Legal Ombudsman service is free of charge.

The ODR platform itself is free to use, but the ADR entity to which the complaint is transmitted may charge for its service. The ADR entity is responsible for informing all parties of the cost of its dispute resolution procedure.

Interest Policy

Amount of interest

We will pay a fair sum of interest to clients or third parties on any client money we hold on their behalf.

Circumstances in which interest will not be paid

We will not pay interest:

on money we are instructed to hold outside a client account in a manner that does not attract interest, e.g. cash held in our safe;
where the amount of interest, calculated in accordance with this policy, is less than £100—on the basis that the costs associated with paying that interest are disproportionate to the amount involved;
where we come to a different arrangement, in writing, with the client or third party for whom the money is held—where we do so, we will provide sufficient information to enable the client or third party for whom the money is held to give informed consent (see ‘Contracting out’ at section 9 below);
where the money is held only in respect of our unbilled costs and/or unpaid disbursements

Amount of interest

Client money can be held in a separate designated client account (SDCA) or in our general client account. An SDCA is an account for money relating to a specific client, trust or third party. Our general client account is an account in which we hold money relating to multiple clients or third parties.
Interest on money held in an SDCA
- As a general rule, where we reasonably expect to hold money behalf of a client or third party for at least the period stated below, and you so instruct us, we will pay it into an SDCA with Natwest, using we consider it to be unreasonable in the circumstances.

Amount of money held for client/third party	Period money expected to be held
£250,000	8 weeks
£500,000	6 weeks
£1,000,000	3 weeks

This is not a rigid rule and we may agree an alternative approach at the request of the client or third party for whom the money is held.

We may also use a SDCA:
- for money we hold as or on behalf of trustees under a trust;
- on transactions in which the parties agree that some or all of the funds should be held in a separate account;
Unless we are instructed to the contrary, we will pay 100% of the interest received on money deposited in an SDCA to the client or third party to whom we ultimately pay the money on deposit. Where the money on deposit is divided between more than one client or third party, we will divide the interest in the same proportions.

Interest on money held in general client account

Any client money not held in a SDCA will be held in our general client account, unless:
- doing so would conflict with our obligations as a trustee of a trust, donee of a power of attorney, Court of Protection deputy, trustee of an occupational
  pension scheme, etc;
- the client money represents payments received from the Legal Aid Agency for our costs; or
- we agree an alternative arrangement in writing with the client or third party for whom the money is held.
We will pay interest on money held in our general client account at the rate of 1% per annum. We shall review this rate in light of changes to the Bank of England base rate and rates available on Natwest client accounts periodically.

Interest period

Interest will be calculated over the whole period we hold the monies, starting from the date the monies are treated by us as cleared funds.
Unless we are notified by our bank to the contrary, we will treat monies as cleared funds in accordance with the table shown below:

Method of payment	When are monies treated as cleared funds
Cheque	Three working days after the money has been paid into our client account
Debit or credit card	Date of actual receipt into the account
Direct transfer	The following working day

We will apply the same time periods when calculating the date that monies are received by the client or third party for whom the money is held.

Best available rate

We are required by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to ensure client money is available on demand, unless we agree an alternative arrangement in writing with the client or third party for whom the money is held. We therefore hold client money in instant access accounts only, unless we have agreed an alternative arrangement.
This means the interest rate paid on client money held in an SDCA or in our general client account may not be as high as could be achieved if the client or third party for
whom the money is held placed the money on deposit themselves.

Tax liability

Interest on money held in our general client account or in a separate designated deposit account will be paid before deduction of tax. It will be the recipient’s responsibility to declare interest received to HMRC.

Monies held on more than one matter

Where we hold money on more than one matter for a client or third party, interest will be calculated separately for each individual instruction—unless it is fair to aggregate the interest.

Interest payment dates

Interest will be paid at the conclusion of the matter or on an annual basis if money are held for longer than 12 months.

Special cases

If we hold money jointly with a client, the interest earned will belong to the firm, unless we agree otherwise.
If we hold money jointly with another firm, we will agree with the other firm how interest will be allocated.

Unpresented cheques

Where we pay money by cheque to a client or third party who delays in paying the cheque into their bank, we will pay additional interest only where it is fair in all the circumstances to do so. We reserve the right to charge for the additional work involved.

Contracting out

We may, by written agreement with the client or third party for whom the money is held, contract out of the terms of this interest policy.
When agreeing to contract out, we will:
- act fairly and in the best interests of any relevant client, including any religious concerns they may have in relation to the payment or charging of interest; and
- provide sufficient information to enable the client or third party for whom the money is held to give informed consent.

Monitoring and review

The firm’s compliance officer for finance and administration (COFA) is responsible for this policy.
The COFA will monitor compliance with this policy and will review this policy regularly—at least annually.