Solicitors £250+vat an hr ??

[PostHeads123]

I wanted a solicitor to clarify what a few lines in my fathers will meant as I couldn't understand them, probably about 30mins work if you knew what you were doing I guess, solicitor wanted £300 an hr do this, minimum charge an hour but left it open ended on total cost. Is that the going rate for a solicitor even for basic stuff ?

thanks

[Jasandjules]

Is that a local firm?

[anonymous-user]

[kestral]

PostHeads123 said:

I wanted a solicitor to clarify what a few lines in my fathers will meant as I couldn't understand them, probably about 30mins work if you knew what you were doing I guess, solicitor wanted £300 an hr do this, minimum charge an hour but left it open ended on total cost. Is that the going rate for a solicitor even for basic stuff ?

thanks

10 yrs ago a firm of solicitors who wanted to represent me after a collison in a car charged £300 for every letter sent.

[PostHeads123]

Jasandjules said:

Is that a local firm?

Yes local not London but in the south... I was thinking may be £90-£100 an hr plus VAT was shocked at £250+vat.

I can email the will and its about 3 points in it I need clarification on, if any solicitors on here want the work and charge something more reasonable then let me know.

ta

[Integroo]

Lawyers are expensive.

[Shuvi McTupya]

kestral said:

10 yrs ago a firm of solicitors who wanted to represent me after a collison in a car charged £300 for every letter sent.

I had one charging me that sort of amount for printing documents..which obviously wouldn't be done by her anyway. I told her to email me the documents and i would pay her for the time it took her to do that and i would print them myself..

"No, we cant do it that way, for 'legal reasons' "..

I don't like solicitors/lawyers very much!

[Integroo]

Shuvi McTupya said:

I had one charging me that sort of amount for printing documents..which obviously wouldn't be done by her anyway. I told her to email me the documents and i would pay her for the time it took her to do that and i would print them myself..

"No, we cant do it that way, for 'legal reasons' "..

I don't like solicitors/lawyers very much!

The one thing you can do with solicitors is ask them for a break down of their fee and then challenge each item line by line. If you struck a pen through a line charging you £300 for printing documents, they probably wouldn't charge you, and if they did, you would probably have a case (as a consumer) for that being unreasonable if you took it to the regulator, and if you threatened that, they would almost certainly not charge you.

[PostHeads123]

Integroo said:

Lawyers are expensive.

Yeap, I'm not even sure I need one, I just need someone who puts wills together I guess ? The will looks pretty much some kind of template one but some of the terms in it to me are just not clear. For examples what does this mean ? Note Im a trustee and so if the wife.


"My trustees shall not during the life time of *wife* or until her earlier marriage or cohabitation (for the purpose of this ill being a relationship where she shall be living in the same household with another person for a period of more than 3 months and the decision of my Trustees shall be final and binding in this respect) sell the said or substitute property or exercise their power to purchase any substitute property or exercise any of the other powers over any such property without the consent of his **wife** .

[carinaman]

PostHeads123 said:

Integroo said:

Lawyers are expensive.

Yeap, I'm not even sure I need one, I just need someone who puts wills together I guess ? The will looks pretty much some kind of template one but some of the terms in it to me are just not clear. For examples what does this mean ? Note Im a trustee and so if the wife.


"My trustees shall not during the life time of *wife* or until her earlier marriage or cohabitation (for the purpose of this ill being a relationship where she shall be living in the same household with another person for a period of more than 3 months and the decision of my Trustees shall be final and binding in this respect) sell the said or substitute property or exercise their power to purchase any substitute property or exercise any of the other powers over any such property without the consent of his **wife** .

You'd think Legal Executives or Paralegals could do something like that.

[Shuvi McTupya]

Integroo said:

The one thing you can do with solicitors is ask them for a break down of their fee and then challenge each item line by line. If you struck a pen through a line charging you £300 for printing documents, they probably wouldn't charge you, and if they did, you would probably have a case (as a consumer) for that being unreasonable if you took it to the regulator, and if you threatened that, they would almost certainly not charge you.

The last Line would have read :
"compiling itemised bill : £600"

[Ian Geary]

(This might not help, but i'll give it a go)

I'm an accountant but sometimes have to interpret legal agreements.

So I get a spreadsheet, and split the paragraphs up into their distinct parts, and work out the meaning bit by bit.

Once you've separated the mass of jammed together phrases, you can usually get a picture of what the clauses is trying to do.

Happy to help you with this, but I do charge £400 an hour

[Wings]

Been having to deal with a long time building dispute, holding back £17k retension monies. Received last week a Letter off Claim from the builder's solicitors, and decided rather than acting for myself, "a fool for a client", I would engage a solicitor to address the above letter. Today I received an estimate from my solicitor of £1,750 to answer, address the Letter of Claim.

It has left me quite scared, with part of me wanting to pay the builder off, part of me considering finding an alternative solicitor, and also part of me wanting to revert back to "a fool for a client".

[alfie2244]

PostHeads123 said:

Yes local not London but in the south... I was thinking may be £90-£100 an hr plus VAT was shocked at £250+vat.

I can email the will and its about 3 points in it I need clarification on, if any solicitors on here want the work and charge something more reasonable then let me know.

ta

ACTAPS or STEP member?

Edited by alfie2244 on Friday 26th July 19:08

[85Carrera]

Wings said:

Been having to deal with a long time building dispute, holding back £17k retension monies. Received last week a Letter off Claim from the builder's solicitors, and decided rather than acting for myself, "a fool for a client", I would engage a solicitor to address the above letter. Today I received an estimate from my solicitor of £1,750 to answer, address the Letter of Claim.

It has left me quite scared, with part of me wanting to pay the builder off, part of me considering finding an alternative solicitor, and also part of me wanting to revert back to "a fool for a client".

Your solicitor would have to read the contract and all the correspondence between your builder and you before putting in a credible riposte to the letter of claim. Whether or not his quote is reasonable depends on the volume of paperwork he has to go through.

Unfortunately, litigation is not cheap and best advice is usually to settle if you can; even if you end up paying more than you think is fair, it’s likely to be less than you would end up paying (if you factor in legal fees) if you contest it.

I’ve looked at construction disputes for some household name companies and I’ve tended to find that:

(a) they have massively overstated their position when compared to the facts and/or what the contract says;
(b) they rarely had the paperwork to support their view that the builder agreed to the changes they claim he did; and
(c) there is usually a deal to be done, which leaves neither party entirely happy but which they can both walk away from thinking that (i) they’ve got away with that one a little bit or (ii) they haven’t lost their shirt (or their job, when they’ve had to get board approval for the settlement).

Getting an initial view from a solicitor as to the credibility of a claim is often useful in determining how hard to fight it/whether to settle and if so for how much, but I accept that in your case 10% of the disputed sum may seem a lot (although not necessarily disproportionate to the work involved).

PS can’t believe how much accountants try to charge to look at stuff they’re not qualified (or covered by PI) to do so

[N111BJG]

Solicitors, like other professionals, only have their time to sell.

The going rate for the the expertise you seek is far above £100 per hour.

[akirk]

PostHeads123 said:

Yeap, I'm not even sure I need one, I just need someone who puts wills together I guess ? The will looks pretty much some kind of template one but some of the terms in it to me are just not clear. For examples what does this mean ? Note Im a trustee and so if the wife.


"My trustees shall not during the life time of *wife* or until her earlier marriage or cohabitation (for the purpose of this ill being a relationship where she shall be living in the same household with another person for a period of more than 3 months and the decision of my Trustees shall be final and binding in this respect) sell the said or substitute property or exercise their power to purchase any substitute property or exercise any of the other powers over any such property without the consent of his **wife** .

Basically can’t sell or swap property
- during life time
- or until she marries / cohabits for 3 months
Without her permission

[PostHeads123]

N111BJG said:

Solicitors, like other professionals, only have their time to sell.

The going rate for the the expertise you seek is far above £100 per hour.

What has annoyed me most is I approached the firm who wrote the will to get them to explain what it meant and they too were going to treat it as if they never seen it before, but they bloody wrote it!

[PostHeads123]

akirk said:

Basically can’t sell or swap property
- during life time
- or until she marries / cohabits for 3 months
Without her permission

Thanks thats kind of what I thought it meant, so do you read it that if she does cohabit it can be sold without her permission?

[alfie2244]

PostHeads123 said:

akirk said:

Basically can’t sell or swap property
- during life time
- or until she marries / cohabits for 3 months
Without her permission

Thanks thats kind of what I thought it meant, so do you read it that if she does cohabit it can be sold without her permission?

Who gets the residual funds if sold?