SRA transparency rules – information for website
From December 2018 under Rule 1 of the SRA Transparency Rules all regulated law firms are to publish information on the prices they charge in relation to Probate and Debt recovery (up to £100,000) matters.
Fixed Fee Meetings
Initial advice regarding your matter is available at a fixed fee of £300 plus VAT with Mr Avadis, this will include a 1-hour meeting and a letter of advice.
Probate Case – Obtaining Grant of Probate / Letters of Administration
We will obtain your initial instructions, assess the value of the estate and the complexity of the case and agree either a fixed fee of between £1500 and £5000 plus vat and probate court fees or an hourly rate of £300 plus vat per hour with a costs estimate depending on the complexity of the case and the size of the estate.
This fee includes the following:
1) Initial consultation and advice
2) Paying IHT, if applicable
3) Preparation and submission of application to obtain Grant of Probate
*Stage 1-Stage 3 below
Please note the following additional charges:
1) Land Registry Search Fee £3.00 per search
2) Oath Checking Service £12.00
3) Probate Registry Fee £215.00
4) Additional Copy of Grant of Probate £1.00 per copy
Currently, it will typically 6 to 9 months from start to finish.
We will take all steps up to and including obtaining a grant or probate or letters of administration but we will not gather in the monies for the estate following the grant. If you wish us to do so we will quote for this work at an hourly rate of £300 plus vat.
Costs may be higher in cases of extreme complexity, cases where there are multiple beneficiaries and/ or where inheritance tax is payable.
The above quoted fee will also vary subject to any international element.
Key Stages
Stage 1 Valuing and collating estate*
Stage 2 Paying IHT, if applicable*
Stage 3 Applying for Grant of Probate or applying for Letters of Administration, if no Will *
Stage 4 Informing interested parties
Stage 5 Gathering Estate assets, liquidate if required including paying any debts from the Estate
Stage 6 Distributing the Estate in accordance with Will or in accordance with the Rules of Intestacy
Stage 4 – Stage 6 is subject to an hourly rate beginning at £225.00 plus VAT.
Time Scales
We would expect these proceeding to last between 6 -12 months however it is difficult to accurately predict exactly how long it will take to conclude matters due to the complexity of each case and the processing times by the Probate Registry and/ or HMRC.
The work will be undertaken primary by Mr Avadis who qualified in 1985, with the support of Trainee solicitors and paralegals under his supervision. He has dealt with around 500 cases ranging from estates of the lowest value up to £3,000,000 and spend roughly 10% of his time within this area in the firm.
Debt Recovery Matters
Initial advice regarding your matter is available at a fixed fee of £300 plus VAT with Mr Avadis, this will include a 1-hour fixed fee meeting and a letter of advice.
All further work is undertaken at hourly rate of £300 per hour plus VAT
We will obtain your initial instructions, assess the value of the debt and the complexity of the case in a fixed fee meeting for which we will charge £300 plus vat. We will agree either a fixed fee of between £500 and £5000 plus vat and court fees or an hourly rate of £300 plus vat per hour with a costs estimate depending on the complexity of the case and the size of the claim and whether court proceedings have been issued or are contemplated.
Please note the following additional charges, if applicable:
– Court Fee
The court fee is based on the value of the debt being recovered, plus interest.
Key Stages
If parties are unable to reach an agreement with our assistance or directly, the following stages apply.
Stage 1 Letter before Action
Stage 2 Application to Court
Stage 3 Judgment
Stage 4 Enforcement
In some cases, counsel fees will be incurred at approximately £500 plus VAT.
Time Scales:
It is difficult to accurately predict exactly how long it will take to conclude matters due to a number of variables and at what stage the parties reach an agreement or whether the involvement of the Court is required.
Typically, court proceedings take 9 to 12 months if fully defended to trial. The cost of these proceedings can vary in terms of the complexity of each case but typically cost between £5000 and £50,000.
The work will be undertaken primary by Mr Avadis who qualified in 1985 with the support of Trainee solicitors and paralegals, under his supervision. He has dealt with around 2000 cases ranging from claims of the lowest value up to £2,000,000 and spends roughly 15% of his time within this area in the firm.
Wills
For a basic will to be drafted, the cost is £180 plus VAT, or £300 plus VAT for two mirror wills.
Our Team
Laurie Avadis Solicitor PQE: 36 years
The firm ensures that all solicitors undertake Continuous Professional Development (CPD) training annually.
Complaints and feedback
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.
We hope that you will initially be able to resolve any problem or complaint that you have with your lawyer on an informal basis. However, if this is not possible, we will apply the following procedure.
In the event you wish to raise an issue, you should contact Mr Avadis to arrange a meeting either in person or on the telephone. Please note you will not be charged for raising any issues.
If the scheduled meeting is unsuccessful the following will apply:
1)We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within 7 days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure. We will record your complaint in our complaints register and open a file relating to your complaint.
2)We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our clients care partner: Mr Avadis who will review you matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you. We will also review the file to ascertain exactly what happened.
3)Mr Avadis will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
4)Within 3 days of the meeting, Mr Avadis will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you, unless you specifically say you do not want this done. In appropriate cases remedial action will be taken and we will make redress to you.
5)If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, Mr Avadis will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter, within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
6)At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for Mr Lewis of Lewis Nedas to review the decision of Mr Avadis or suggest an appropriate alternative such as review by another local solicitor or mediation service.
7)We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons. If we consider that ADR is appropriate, we will refer your case to a certified provider of ADR.
We hope to complete the different stages outlined above well within reasonable timescales. However, some complaints take longer than others to resolve.
If you are not satisfied with our internal complaints system after we have had 8 weeks to investigate your complaint you can refer the existing complaint to The Office for Legal Complaints – the Legal Ombudsman at any time from 6 months from our final response.
In terms of making a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman a complainant has six years from the date of act/omission, or three years from when the complainant should have known about the complaint. They will not accept complaints where the act or date of awareness is before 5 October 2010.The role of the OLC is to resolve disputes between solicitors and clients and more information can be obtained at:
Legal Ombudsman,
PO Box 6806
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ
You can write to the Legal Ombudsman at the above address or email them at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk. You can view the rules of practice for the Legal Ombudsman at www.legalombudsman.org.uk
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
Some clients may not have the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman, for example:
1)Most businesses (unless they are defined as micro enterprises)
2)Charities or clubs with an annual income of more £1m, or
3) Trustees of trust with asset value of more than £1m will not have the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman.
Feedback
If you would like to provide any other feedback, please e-mail lavadis@aol.com