I am often asked about the cost of going to court to try and achieve a contact order to see your grandchildren, it is difficult to get a true figure but here is one breakdown I found.
1. First meeting – £75, deducted from your first bill if you decide to proceed with your case.
We feel it is essential that we meet you face to face before we take any steps on your behalf. This way we get to know you well and we get to understand your particular worries and priorities. It also gives you a chance to meet the solicitor who will be acting for you and make sure that you feel comfortable with him or her.
At the initial meeting we would usually discuss your own situation with you, touching on issues relating to yourself, your children and your finances. We would usually be able to give you some helpful advice on these issues which is personalised to your own situation and to answer any particular questions which are worrying you.
We usually expect the initial meeting to take about an hour, and most of our clients say that they find it very helpful indeed. If you cannot come to our office because you live overseas the meeting can take the form of a long telephone call.
Following the meeting can discuss whether you would like some written information about the topics we have discussed, but the fee does not include this nor does it include any other steps, for example writing to other parties or their solicitor.
2. Trying to reach an agreement without starting court proceedings - £450
You may wish to instruct us to try to negotiate an agreement with the other party or his or her solicitor. This usually involves exchanging correspondence to establish what your position is, then formulating and putting forward proposals. As an alternative to this you may want to consider using other options such as mediation or collaborative law.
In most cases we would expect you and any other party to reach an agreement without proceedings, perhaps with the help and guidance from solicitors. It is important and sensible to do this but, also, it is important to recognise when discussions and negotiations are fruitless, and to consider other options available. We recognise that drawn out negotiations are rarely in a child’s best interests.
The fixed fee includes:
- Writing to the other party to confirm your proposals or future arrangements and seeking confirmation of the other party’s proposals.
- Advising you about the issues arising.
- Advising you about any proposals you receive and helping you to formulate your own proposals.
- Negotiating with the other party and his or her solicitor, usually by letter or e-mail, to try to reach agreement.
The fixed fee does not include:
- Charges made by other people to provide information.
- Direct “face to face” meetings with the other party and his/her solicitor. We can arrange these meetings where they are appropriate but we would need to charge you separately.
- Drawing up a formal agreement if an agreement is reached.
- Further negotiations after we conclude that there is no realistic possibility of an agreement, or after six weeks from the start of this stage.
- Negotiations after you or the other party has issued an application to the court.
- Any issues in relation to applications for abduction, enforcement or financial provision for children.
- Negotiations with more than one other party.
3. Completing the application to commence court proceedings – £275
You should try to reach an agreement without any court proceedings, and we hope that, with our help, you will achieve that, ideally at an early stage in order to minimise the cost to you. If, however, this is not possible and you wish to ask the court to resolve matters we can prepare your court application.
The fixed fee includes:
- Drafting an application for an order.
- Sending it to you for approval and discussing the detailed wording with you.
- Sending the application to the court for issue and arranging service on the other party by post.
- Dealing with any questions the judge may raise in correspondence before issue.
If you receive an application issued by another person we can advise you regarding this and complete an acknowledgement of service on your behalf and arrange for this to be lodged at court. The cost of this will be £100.
The fixed fee does not include:
- The court fee. The fee depends on the type of application issued but is typically about £215.
- Being represented at court by a solicitor.
- Any charges in relation to tracing the other party if their address is not known.
- Completion of a supplemental information form. This form is required if allegations of harm are made
4. Representing you at a first court appointment – £650
There may come a point when it is clear that we are not going to reach an agreement. Long negotiations which get nowhere are deeply frustrating, so it may become necessary to issue a court application, or the other party may decide to do so. You can ask us for more information about the court process.
The fixed fee scheme is available in relation to applications for residence, contact, parental responsibility and specific issue orders.
The fixed fee includes:
- Going to the first court appointment with you if it is in Bristol, Weston-super-Mare or Bath, and representing you at court. If the court appointment is at another court we will also represent you but we will charge you extra for travel, etc
- If your case settles without us actually having to go to court we will reduce our fixed fee by £400, but if you need us to prepare a consent order for which we will charge you £100.
- Advising you about any proposals received, helping you to formulate proposals and negotiate with the other party’s solicitor in correspondence.
- Representing you and negotiating for you at court and, if an agreement is reached at court, preparing a consent order setting out the terms of the agreement.
The fixed fee does not include:
- Applications for enforcement, abduction, prohibited steps orders, or applications for permission to remove from the jurisdiction permanently.
- The court fee which you have to pay if you issue the application. This is currently £200 for most applications.
- Writing to other people for documentation.
- Any other application you or the other party might make.
- Any charges made by third parties for providing information, and any charges for expert reports, such as drug testing, DNA testing, psychological reports, etc.
- Representation at court by a barrister. We would not normally recommend you to engage the services of a barrister at this stage of the proceedings, but, if you do so, his or her fee would be payable separately and we would also have to charge you an extra £250 for the administration involved and preparation of a detailed brief to the barrister.
- Proceedings in which there are more than two parties.
5. Helping you to deal with the steps following the first court appointment up to and including representing you at a further directions/review hearing – £1,500
In our experience, it is not always possible to resolve matters at the first hearing. If it is necessary to continue beyond that point the judge will give directions as to what further information should be provided, and will usually set a date for a further hearing a few weeks later.
We will help you to comply with the court’s directions, we will prepare all the documentation needed for the next hearing and represent you at that hearing.
The fixed fee includes:
- Drafting a statement on your behalf, if the court directs this.
- Pressing the other party’s solicitor to comply promptly with any directions made against him or her.
- Advising you about any proposals received, helping you to formulate proposals and negotiate with the other party’s solicitor in correspondence.
- Going to the directions or review hearing with you if it is in Bristol, Weston-super-Mare or Bath, and representing you at court. If the court appointment is at another court we will also represent you but we will charge you extra for travel, etc. If your case settles without us actually having to go to court we will reduce our fixed fee by £500, but if you need us to prepare a consent order we will charge you separately, see above.
- Representing you and negotiating for you at court and, if an agreement is reached at court, preparing a consent order setting out the terms of the agreement.
The fixed fee does not include:
- Representation at court by a barrister. We would not normally recommend you to engage the services of a barrister at this stage of the proceedings, but, if you do so, his or her fee would be payable separately and we would also have to charge you an extra £250 for the administration involved, preparation of a detailed brief, etc. The barrister’s own charges would be extra.
- Writing to other people for documentation needed to comply with the judge’s directions. We think that you would probably prefer to do this yourself, so we have not included it in our costings. Of course, we can write these letters for you if you wish but we would need to charge you extra.
- Any charges made by third parties for providing information, and any charges for expert reports, such as drug testing, DNA testing, psychological reports, etc.
- Commissioning reports from third parties, which may be required, such as drug testing, DNA testing and obtaining psychological reports, etc.
- Drafting statements on behalf of witnesses or third parties.
- Representation at a finding of fact hearing, if allegations are made by either party.
- Drafting or responding to a schedule of allegations in relation to a potential finding of fact hearing.
6. Further hearings and court directions
In applications concerning children several hearings will often be necessary to resolve matters. We will be happy to represent you at further hearings and to help you to comply with court directions if this is necessary. A fixed fee can be agreed with you in advance in respect of any further assistance that you may need.
7. Preparing for a trial/final hearing and going to the trial/final hearing with you – £3,000.
Taking a case to trial involves quite a lot of detailed preparation work. We will carry out all the necessary preparation work for you for this fee. It does not include our advocate actually representing you at court; we would discuss and agree a separate fee for that when we know more about how long the trial is likely to take and what the issues are.
We may recommend you to engage the services of a barrister at this stage in the proceedings, and if so we will probably suggest you have a meeting with the barrister (known as a ‘conference’) a few weeks before the trial date so that he or she can advise you and also point out any additional information he or she thinks you should produce or any other steps he or she would like us to take before the trial.
The fixed fee includes the cost of arranging and briefing the barrister, and going to the conference with you. It also includes coming to court with you and your barrister on the morning of the trial to deal with any last minute points and to be present during negotiations before you go into court. It does not include staying at court throughout the remainder of your day. If you or your barrister wish us to do that, however, we will charge you an additional sum of £500. It does not include the fees charged by the barrister.
The fixed fee includes:
- Helping you to comply with any court directions.
- Commissioning any reports or addendum reports from third parties which may be required, such as psychological reports, drug testing, DNA testing, etc.
- Pressing the other party’s solicitor to comply promptly with any directions made against him or her which remain to be complied with.
- Advising you about any proposals received, helping you to formulate proposals and negotiate with the other party’s solicitor in correspondence.
- Drafting a position statement if required.
- Going to a meeting with a barrister, and going to court with you on the morning of the trial with you and the barrister.
The fixed fee does not include:
- Representing you at the trial
- Fees charged by a barrister for your meeting with him or her and for representing you at court.
- Any charges raised by third parties for providing information, and any charges for expert’s reports, such as psychological reports, DNA testing, drug testing, etc.
- Fees charged by any third parties, such as psychologists, for attending court. It is rare for an expert to be asked to attend court but, if it happens, he or she will make an extra charge. --
Note that barristers fees not included.
Always, always get a breakdown before you embark on going to court, bearing in mind that if the resident parents decides not to adhere to the order, you have to go back to court and square one.
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