Solicitors costs: Do you have a story to tell?

My job involves dealing with solicitors costs which is a spikey subject at best.

Whilst dealing with my job I have limited contact with clients therefore the feedback I receive is also limited. I would be interested in any good or bad accounts that anybody has had which may be of use to others on the forum or information regarding issues which remain unresolved.

Some topics which might spur potential contributors into action are as follows:

(1) Exceeding costs estimates
(2) Charging hourly rates above the expected amount
(3) Costs of the divorce suit
(4) Bills delivered without a breakdown of costs
(5) Refusal to carry out further work without money being paid

I would be grateful for any contributions received as I anticipate that this thread may help people realise what level of service to expect from their solicitor and how much the service should cost.

Thanks in advance.

Charles

I got a fixed quote for the divorce costs themselves and quoted an hourly rate for work spent on child/finance issues.

I then got charged for approx 5 extra hours of work on child/finance issues despite the fact that the child contact issues were dealt with entirely by me (albeit that the letters and e-mails went via my solicitor, but she neither had input in them nor advised on the replies) and that the finances consisted of my ex announcing he wanted no money off me, and me agreeing. Not tricky.

I queried the total cost, and the fact that the narrative on the bills was repeated in places (charging twice for the same bits of work?), but never received a satisfactory answer. In fact, the solicitor tried to argue that she had based her fixed price for the divorce on 4 hours work but had exceeded that - not really my problem if she doesn't know how to set fixed prices correctly though, plus it was only her incompetence that meant it took more than 4 hours. I corrected her mistakes on a number of occasions and had to help her with drafting!

In the end, I agreed to a reduction amounting to an hour's work simply because it was too stressful to push the point further. Am still not sure whether she was trying to rip me off or just very badly organised, but either way I would NEVER recommend her to anyone else.

I had a fixed rate divorce! £500+VAT for the professional services, £250+VAT for the Consent Order and then £350 for the Nisi and 3 x £40 to cover court admin costs.

However, my ex paid half the nisi fees, half the consent order fees and half the court costs. So in the end I paid approx £750+VAT for everything, which I didn't think was bad.

I believe my ex paid per letter and per hour and it cost him approx £1000

moodybird

Divorces seem to be about the only area where fixed price are common. I do agree though that if you are given a fixed price (a quote) this cannot be exceeded under any circumstances.

4 hours work for a simple undefended divorce is a plenty - any more than that and I would begin to wonder how competent the solicitor is.

AliPat

What fees was the £350 made up of? The court fees should be £300 for the Petition, £40 for the Decree Absolute and £40 for the application for consent order.

Charles

Charles,

My sol was very fair with her fees...no charges for travelling/lunch/court timetable delays/etc, she would often round down her hourly charge, eg I was billed for 1 hour when appointment lasted 1 hour 35 mins, she often discounted each invoice...rather sad that ex benefited as I was awarded costs in all but 1 hearing.

In contrast my legal aided ex's sol billed me a ridiculous sum for a 10 minute hearing when I was a LIP, how ridiculous...it was equal to the bill of my sol that was for all preparation as well as the 2 day hearing...of course I contested with an outcome of modification to nil and the sol ordered to pay costs to both parties!

E

Any more for any more?

Bearing in mind the gripe most people have about solicitors costs I would have thought there would be lots of experiences that forum users would be willing to share!

Charles

Charles

Where do I begin. At the start I was told that the fees would be in the region of £10k- £15k for the whole thing- ie child and financial issues. Not a huge pot but due to his extensive lies etc it was going to be more complicated.

18 mths on I owe my sols about £28k and we are not finished yet.

My main problem has been that due to my ex's solicitors not responding to any correpsondence, my costs escalated with chasing letters/ calls etc and having to be forced to go down the court route more. I have been onto the bar association and have lodged a third party complaint against them.

I really think that the whole family law needs a major shake up as from my experience he who lies more gains more and that is not what the legal system is supposed to be about.

At £180 per hour I think there should be more connections between the different agencies. In divorce form E there should be a link between family courts and the banking system- thus ensuring full and honest disclosure.

Every second was charged for and I did not anticipate the level of deception being possible within a legal system.