General Terms and Conditions - Donaldson McConnell & Co

GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1 Introduction

These terms and conditions are provided to comply with certain standards recommended by The Law Society, and also to indicate to clients as clearly as possible the standard of service you can expect from us and the amounts, and how, we will charge for the work we do.

These terms and conditions do not affect statutory and common law rules which govern solicitors’ business, but if there is a conflict between them and these terms and conditions, the terms and conditions will prevail as far as it is possible for them to do so.

When ‘we’ and ‘us’ and ‘DMC’ are used in these terms and conditions they mean Donaldson McConnell & Co Ltd., Solicitors. A list of directors is available for inspection at Companies House or on the foot of our company notepaper. DMC is regulated by The Law Society of Northern Ireland. DMC is a trading name of Donaldson McConnell & Co Ltd.

2 Responsibility for work carried out on your behalf

The person who will carry out all or the majority of the work on your case is shown in the letter which accompanies these terms and conditions.

In some circumstances, it may be appropriate for some work to be carried out by other members of staff, such as paralegal, secretarial or support staff. This allows us to provide a more efficient service to you, and also to charge you the appropriate amount for the work done. All work by such staff is carried out under the supervision of a solicitor. Overall supervision of the matter is undertaken by a partner.

3 How we will progress your case

As your Solicitor, it is our duty to use our professional skills and expertise to advance your case. We will use or professional judgement to take steps to protect your interest. This means that we will receive letters, emails and phone calls which we are obliged to consider and respond to if it is in your interest.

We would also have to write and make telephone phone calls to try and advance your case. We cannot contact you for instructions every time we receive communication or when we need to make an inquiry, as this will necessarily increase the costs of your case. We assure you that every effort will be made to keep you informed about the main developments in your case and we will contact you immediately for your instructions if anything significant or unusual occurs.

We would also contact you if we receive information that affects our current views on how your case should be handled. We will seek your instruction and give you a written review on the issues at that point. You should bear in mind that as the case develops the length of time it takes to resolve and the way in which it progressed is influenced not only by what we decide to do together as Solicitor and Client but also how the other party or Judiciary decide to deal with your case.

4 Your Instructions

If there is any new information that may affect your instructions itis important that you tell us about it as soon as possible. We will not be responsible for any loss which occurs as a result of you failing to provide us with accurate, timely or up to date instructions. It is useful to receive written confirmation of the information by either letter or by email.

It is important that you respond properly to requests for information or instructions as failure to do so may harm your case. It is also important that you abide by any advice given by us or your Barrister. Should you disagree with such advice you are at liberty to seek alternative representation, subject to all outstanding fees or outlays being discharged.

5 Charges and expenses

We believe that it is an important part of our retention by you we clearly set out how we will charge you for the services provided.

These charges will differ according to the services we provide to you and unless we have agreed a fixed fee arrangement with you or provided a quotation for conveyancing services in accordance with the Home Charter scheme you will see the various methods of charging set out in the schedule below.

We add VAT to our charges at the rate that applies when we carry out the work. Currently, this is 20%

Any outstanding fees and expenses will usually be payable upon the completion of your case but we reserve the right to issue monthly, quarterly or periodic interim invoices during the transaction. We would ask that you pay invoices promptly on presentation and should invoices not be paid within 30 days of the date of the invoice we will charge interest on the amount outstanding from the due date at the rate of 8%. We also reserve the right to reclaim payment under the Later Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, where appropriate.

If we need to carry out some unforeseen additional work we will let you know about this (normally before we carry it out), and also provide you with the estimated cost of carrying it out. This can arise because of unexpected difficulties, a change in your requirements or a change in circumstances during the course of the matter (such as unexpected action or inaction by the other party or parties involved in the matter).

You can set a limit on our charges and the expenses we incur on your behalf. If you set such a limit, we can charge for work carried out and expenses incurred up to the limit without us needing to refer to you for approval to carry out the work, and you must pay our charges and the expenses up to the limit. If it appears that the limit you have set is likely to be exceeded, we will inform you. We will not exceed the limit without first obtaining your approval to do so. We will not carry out further work until any outstanding bill is paid; if you have difficulty paying our fees then you should contact us as soon as possible.

We will normally ask you to pay certain sums in advance of us carrying out work and incurring expenses on your behalf. We reserve the right to clear any cheques or other forms of payment you provide to us before carrying out any work on any aspect of your case. We will offset such payments made in advance against the invoices we will send to you from time to time and the final invoice. However, you should be aware that the total charges and expenses are likely to exceed the advance payments you have made to us.

When your case is concluded and we are holding money on your behalf we will deduct our fees and expenses from the monies due to you and pay to you the balance.If the matter is not concluded we will still charge for the time we spend and the disbursements and expenses we incur on your behalf, and you will have to pay our charges and expenses.

6 Assistance with your costs

You may be able to receive assistance with the payment of your costs from various sources such as legal aid, legal expenses insurance or your union or employment association. It is your responsibility to inform us of your entitlement to such assistance and we shall not be liable if you are entitled to such assistance but fail to notify us. If we have undertaken work upon your behalf prior to you becoming aware of your entitlement you shall still be required to discharge our costs and we shall not be liable for any loss arising from your non-disclosure of your eligibility.

Further information about Legal Aid is set out in greater detail below.

7 Outlays

You will also be billed for expenses we incur on your behalf (disbursements). These include photocopying charges, courier costs, travel expenses, overseas telephone calls, facsimile charges, the costs of using the services of other professional and other persons, such as counsel, consultants, and other agents. VAT is normally payable on these items. It is a standard practice of this firm to request that certain outlays to be paid by you in advance. We shall advise of these as and when necessary. The hourly rate does not include expenses incurred by the firm on your behalf, these examples include:-

Property Certificates
Search fees
Land Registry fees
Stamp Duty Land Tax
Counsels fees
Expert Medical fees
Stamp Duty
Court Fees
Travel Expenses
Bulk photocopying
International Calls or conference/video links
Bank Charge e.g. Electronic Transfer
Third Party fees, such as Accountants, Barristers etc.

It may be necessary to retain experts on your behalf. When doing so we will, where possible, advise you of their estimated fee. You will discharge these fees in advance if so required by the expert or by us. Where we instruct such experts we will do so as your agent – you will be responsible for discharging the expert’s fees once requested by the expert. Where you require the assistance of a third party to conclude your transaction (such as an architect, surveyor, engineer, accountant or another consultant) we can only advise on the legal aspect of your case and will not advise (nor hold themselves out as qualified to do so) in respect of any other professional discipline.

We will be responsible in the first instance for any court fees or stamp duty on proceedings such as the fee to stamp a Civil Bill/Writ etc. We will bear these outlays on your behalf at the outset but reserve the right to ask you to discharge there outlays at any time.

We assume that we have your authority to incur routine expenditure. We will, however, revert to you with regards to incurring any expenditure of an additional nature such as retaining the services of an expert or a specialist.

8 Fixed Fees and Home Charter Conveyancing Quotes

Where appropriate we will agree a fixed fee agreement with you. This agreement will be set out in writing to you and will be deemed to comply with the terms of article 64 and 71A of the Solicitors’ (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 and as amended by the Solicitors Amendment (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 which means that once you agree to the fixed fee agreement it will be deemed to be conclusive as to the amount of costs to be paid by you. As a consequence, you will not be entitled to dispute our bill or ask that a court tax or review our costs, except to argue that the entire agreement is unreasonable, imbalanced or unfair.

When we send you a written quotation for conveyancing services we will endeavour to complete the transaction within this estimate and will only change our professional fees in exceptional circumstances.

9 Email and technology

We have invested heavily in technology within DMC. and believe that the use of technology allows us to deal with our clients’ affairs in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Email enables us to communicate more quickly with our clients (and also for clients to correspond with us more quickly). However, not every client finds this method of communication acceptable. Some have concerns about who might see such correspondence and not every client has systems in place which ensure that only the addressee of an email will see it. Please advise us should you not wish to correspond with us by email.

We use our best endeavours to maintain the integrity and security of our IT system and environment through the employment of our IT consultants and by deploying industry standard security software and hardware. Our general email communication is not encrypted (as is usual in standard client to business and business to client communications) and therefore cannot, and should not, be viewed as a secure medium. Any form of electronic communication cannot be guaranteed to be secure and you should be aware that there may be a possibility that this message could be intercepted by someone else or that the information contained could be corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or be incomplete. You should bear this in mind when deciding whether to contact us or reply to us by email. We will not accept responsibility or liability for any subsequent alterations to the contents of any email after it was sent.

10 Data protection

By your instructing DMC, you are consenting, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and theData Protection Act 2018 to DMC holding and processing in any form, and transferring, data we collect in relation to you for the purposes of providing legal services. No information concerning you or the matter with which we are dealing with on your behalf will be disclosed or passed onto a third party without your specific authority except in the circumstances set out below and in accordance with our Privacy Policy which can be viewed here or which is available on request.

By instructing DMC you are providing your consent for us to collect, process, store and share your data in order to provide you with the legal services required. We will use any data collected in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 and the Data Protection Act2018. Your data will not be disclosed to any unnecessary 3rd parties nor will it be used in any manner outside of the provision of our services but may be shared with necessary 3^rdparties in order to provide our services.

In order to fully provide relevant the legal service (litigation, probate, matrimonial or conveyancing) you require we will need to share your information with other 3rd parties. Depending on the legal service required these 3rd parties will include other solicitors, barristers, insurers, accountants, medical experts, courts, mortgage companies, estate agents, other case experts and such statutory bodies are may lawfully request sight of such details as needed during the course of your case. The Law Society of Northern Ireland may also wish to view your file(s) as part of any annual or periodic inspection they might undertake. You will be informed if your information is going to be shared with any other 3rd parties.

11 Confidentiality, money laundering and proceeds of crime

Solicitors are under a professional and legal obligation to keep the affairs of clients confidential. This obligation, however, is subject to a statutory exception: recent legislation on money laundering and terrorist financing has placed solicitors under a legal duty in certain circumstances to disclose information to the National Criminal Intelligence Service.

We are required by the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 to verify your identity before we can act or continue to act on your behalf in connection with this matter.

We will require you to produce an original passport/driving licence or other official photographic identity document and a recent utility bill or bank statement to confirm your address. We are required to hold a copy of these for our file. You will need to do this as soon as possible otherwise we will not be able to continue to act for you. If you have already provided this information to us for another transaction then nothing further is required from you at this stage. e may have to ask you questions about the source of the funds for your case and make such further inquiries if necessary. There are also circumstances under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 in which we are required to make a confidential report to Serious Organised Crime Agency or make a money laundering disclosure where we know or suspect that the criminal offence has been committed. We are not permitted to inform you if we make such a report.

Due to the provisions, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 are policy is that we cannot accept payments in cash exceeding £2,000.00.

12 Insurance and liability

You acknowledge and agree that if you wish to make a claim relating to or in connection with the services provided by us, the claim can only be brought against DMC, and not against the directors, shareholders, individual members, officers or employees. We believe this is reasonable as it corresponds to modern business practice and the current legal position with regard to limited companies.

DMC have in place indemnity insurance in excess of the minimum cover required by the Law Society of Northern Ireland. We will not be liable to meet any claim in excess of this amount and the terms of this retainer expressly limit our liability to you to the totality of our professional indemnity insurance. Neither DMC nor any individual practising in the limited company as, or employed by, DMC shall be liable to make good any shortfall which may result for any claim in excess at the limit of our insurance.

‘Claim’ means any claim whether arising out of this agreement or otherwise, and whether such claim is in contract, tort, breach of trust or on any other basis.

In no circumstances will be liable to for any loss arising out of or in connection with this engagement in contract, tort, by statute or otherwise, unless the loss is caused directly as a result of our negligence or default. The potential total aggregate liability of our firm to you arising out of or in connection with our engagement will, in addition, be limited to the amount that could be met without recourse to the personal assets of any director or shareholder.

We shall not be liable for any indirect, consequential loss or for loss arising out of any action necessary for us to take to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007.

For any losses suffered by you for which we and any other person are jointly and severally liable, the loss recoverable by you from us shall be limited so as to in portion to our relevant contribution to the overall fault, taking into account the others parties liability. The other party may include you – for example in a situation of contributory negligence.

If the amount that you are able to recover is reduced as a result of any exclusion or limitation of liability you have agreed with any other person, then our liability to you will be reduced by an equivalent amount.

We shall not be liable to any third party for any services or advice that we provide to you, nor should we have any liability to you for any services or advice given by any third party who may instruct on your behalf (for example in relation to any legal financial or professional or expert advice).

13 Storage of papers and documents

We are entitled to keep all the papers and documents generated by us or received from you or other persons (including original documents) if you have not discharged any outstanding bills at the end of our work on the matter or after the termination of the retainer.

We normally keep papers for no more than 6 years (except for those you ask us to return to you). We keep the papers on your acceptance that at the end of 6 years after the date of the final invoice we sent to you we have your express authority to destroy the papers.

However, we will not destroy papers you have expressly asked us to deposit in safe custody. We will hold your will, deeds and EPA either free of charge on site or alternatively at an appropriate secure off-site facility of our choice.

We do not usually charge for retrieving papers or documents held in storage where you are providing continuing or new instructions. We may charge you for producing, copying or forwarding your file or papers to you or to another person at your request. This charge will be based on the time involved together with any third party storage fees.

12 Termination

You can terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time. If however, you have not paid all costs and outlays owing to us, we are entitled to keep your papers and documents until you do so. We would recommend that you, therefore, discharge any outstanding account promptly to allow your file to be transferred without delay.

During the course of the matter,we may come to believe that we should stop acting for you, for example,if you cannot give us clear or proper instructions on how we should proceed, or it is clear that you have lost confidence in the way in which we are carrying out work on your behalf.

We will only stop acting for you when we have a good reason to do so; for example:

if you do not pay one or more of our invoices, or
If you do not make an advance payment promptly when we required to do so, or
If you provide instructions which are unreasonable or would require us to breach a professional rule or a duty to the court or involve the commission of a criminal offence.
If it becomes clear that you will not accept the advicebeing given to you and are insistent on acting contrary to our advice.

If we decide to stop acting for you we will give you reasonable notice that we are to stop acting. The precise length of the notice will depend on the circumstances.

If you decide that you no longer wish us to act for you, you will pay us for the time we spend based on hourly charges plus any expenses incurred up to the date of our ceasing to act for you.

We shall not release papers, reports, photographs or other documents to you until such times as all fees have been discharged.

13 Our service and complaints

Our aim is to provide a service with which you will be satisfied. However, we do realise that on some occasions your expectations may not be met, that you may have a query or concern or simply be dissatisfied. If any of these occur, initially please raise them with the person(s) named in this engagement letter. If you cannot resolve them to your satisfaction or would not wish to speak to the person(s) named, then please contact the person named who has overall responsibility for your matter. If you are still dissatisfied, then you may ask that another partner in the firm reviews the complaint. Our complaints procedure is available upon request.

14 Legal Aid

You may be entitled to Legal Aid if you are in receipt of Job Seekers Allowance or Income Support or otherwise come within the financial limits applied by the Legal Services Commission.

If you wish to avail for Legal Aid you must bring to your first appointment or at the earliest available opportunity current documentation confirming your benefits details and or those or your spouse, partner if they are in receipt of the relevant benefits. If you are on low income or another benefit you may qualify to some extent for Legal Aid. Again current pay slips and benefit details must be brought to us at the earliest available opportunity.

The Legal Aid rules provide for contribution from you if your income exceeds the maximum level for free Legal Aid or assistance. If you are being assisted under the Green Form Scheme then the money is paid to this firm. If you are granted Legal Aid any contribution will be payable to the Legal Services Commission by you. Failure to make these payments as assessed by the Legal Service Commission will result in the assistance/Legal Aid being withdrawn and you will, therefore, be responsible to meet out costs directly.

You should realise that we are not aware of your financial standing and or eligibility to obtain Legal Aid.

We cannot advise you of your entitlements of Legal Aid unless you are able to inform us of your financial status at the earliest possible opportunity. Should it transpire at a later date during the course of this transaction that you would have been liable for Legal Aid we shall not be responsible for your failure to notify us of your eligibility for Legal Aid.

We undertake to make an application for Legal Aid upon your behalf at the earliest opportunity once we have been advised by you, but it may be necessary for us to wait until a Legal Aid Certificate has been granted to you before we are able to carry out any further steps to progress your case. Should you wish to proceed prior to the issue of Legal Aid Certificate you will be required to put us in funds to do so.

e will not able to accurately assess how much you may have to contribute. Social Security Agency will make this assessment and it is important that you co-operate with them. The assessment is based on your net income including that of your partner or spouse, how much money you have in savings, the number of dependents and your outgoings. If at any time your financial circumstances change for the better or worse you should tell us immediately as we are required to notify the Legal Services Commission accordingly. A reassessment of your financial position will then be carried out.

The Legal Services Commission has what is called a Statutory Charge over any money covered or preserved through the proceedings. This means that if you receive a financial benefit from the proceedings the commission is entitled to be paid that sum which it was used to prepay its self any money that was paid out on your behalf and which may not be recovered from your opponent. The balance of the money will then be paid out to you. This means that any compensation will be paid to this office and may be required by the Commissions to pay it to them subject to the Statutory Charge.

Please note there can be a significant time delay between applying for and obtaining Legal Aid. The grant of Legal Aid is not backdated and therefore costs incurred before you are in receipt of the full Legal Aid Certificate will not be covered and will remain in your responsibility. If you cannot afford to pay for your case to progress and Green Form assistance has been used up, you will have to wait for the Legal Aid Certificate is available before any further steps can be taken upon your behalf.

15 Jurisdiction

These terms of business are governed by and construed in accordance with the Laws of Northern Ireland. We would ask you to return one signed copy of this letter at the acknowledgement that you accept these terms. In the meantime and in so far as we carry out work for you prior to receipt by us of the signed copy of this letter or your raising particular concerns with issues about the content then the work will be deemed to be done on the basis on the terms of the above.

In the event that any of these terms or business shall be invalid, illegal or enforceable then any remaining terms and clauses shall survive.

I agree the terms and conditions set out above and the costs arrangements as set out above. If signing on behalf of a firm or limited company I confirm that I am duly authorised to enter into this arrangement on its behalf.

Schedule

A – General Non-Contentious Business

Where we have not entered into a fixed fee agreement our fees are based on the amount of time we spend in dealing with your matter. The time we spend will include (but not be limited to) the following types of activities: meetings with you, drafting documents, considering, preparing and working on various documents; correspondence; and making and receiving telephone calls, travel to and from the court. Our current hourly rate for this type of work is £150.00 plus VAT.

Routine letters or emails sent and routine telephone calls that we make are charged as units of 1/10th of an hour (£15). Routine letters and emails we receive are charged at 1/20th of an hour (£7.50). Other letters, emails and telephone calls are charged depending on the length of time they take.

In addition to the time we spend we also take into account a number of factors which include the complexity of the issues involved in the matter, the speed at which action must be taken, the expertise or specialist knowledge which the matter requires and, if appropriate, the value of the property or subject matter involved. Our rates may be adjusted upwards if, for example, the matter becomes more complex than expected or has to be carried out in an emergency or out of hours. In these circumstances, the increased rate will not exceed 25% above the usual hourly composite rate of £150.00.

We will notify you of any potential increase in these rates.

B – Contentious Business and Court Proceedings

Where we have not entered into a fixed fee agreement our fees are based on the amount of time we spend in dealing with your matter or alternatively are set by legislation. The time we spend will include (but not be limited to) the following types of activities: meetings with you, drafting documents, considering, preparing and working on various documents; correspondence; and making and receiving telephone calls, travel to and from the court. Our current hourly rate for this type of work is £165.00 plus VAT.

Routine letters or emails sent and routine telephone calls that we make are charged as units of 1/10th of an hour (£16.50). Routine letters and emails we receive are charged at 1/20th of an hour (£8.25). Other letters, emails and telephone calls are charged depending on the length of time they take.

Litigation Costs

We will not issue any legal proceedings without first obtaining your express authority but once legal proceedings have begun it is important that you understand that we are entitled to take steps which are usually taken in proceedings of this nature. Apart from our duty to you, we have obligations to the Court as Officers of the Court. We will require you to furnish us promptly with instructions and to comply with orders made by the court in within any timescales set out by the court. Failure to do so could damage the prospects of your case or expose you to additional costs orders being against you by the court. We will also require you to comply with your ongoing duties in relation to discovery.

It is normal within this jurisdiction that costs follow the action in litigation i.e. the losing party must pay the properly incurred costs and outlays of the successful party. Therefore should you be successful it is likely (but not guaranteed) that your opponent will pay your costs. In some circumstances, cases may be settled upon the agreement that each party bears their own costs or occasionally your opponent will be unable to meet your costs due to bankruptcy, liquidation or as a result of being legally aided. In such circumstances, you will be required to discharge our Bill of Costs to include outlays to us and seek recovery from your opponent.

Should your case require proceedings to be issued fees will usually be charged on the following basis:-

Small claims – we will charge on our contentious business hourly rate as set out to you. We will usually recommend that you represent your own interests at Small Claims court as the small claims procedure is intended to be accessed directly by the public and therefore the court will not usually award costs to you, even when successful. As such, the cost of legal representation at Small Claims court will often be disproportionate to the amount in dispute.
District Judge and County Court – the fees in these courts is set out in legislation on a graduated scale which may be amended from time to time. We will provide you with a copy of the current scale costs upon request. You should remember that should you be unsuccessful the court may make a costs order against you to pay not only the fees and outlays due to us but also the costs and outlays of the other party. It is important that you are aware of the potential costs of unsuccessful litigation.
The High Court (Queens Bench, Chancery, Commercial) – there are no scale costs in these courts and our costs (and those of your opponent) will be calculated on a time basis. We will advise you of the appropriate hourly rate we intend to charge and will, if required, provide you with interim invoices for payment. It is often difficult to accurately predict the level of costs in cases such as these as the final bill will depend on time spent, the level of complexity, the size of any compensation or settlement payment and whether the case was required to proceed to a full hearing.

C Residential House sales and Purchases

We are a member of the Law Society Home Charter scheme and we have provided information to you separately in relation to the scheme. If there is any conflict between the scheme and these Terms then these Terms will take precedence.

We will provide you with an estimate of costs in a quotation as prescribed by the Law Society. If you choose to proceed with the quote we will use our best endeavours to adhere to the quote but the initial quotation may need to be varied should there be an increase in outlays, stamp duty or registration fees during the duration of the transaction. We will not change our professional fee unless there are unforeseen issues which were not apparent at the time of the quotation but which will subsequently require additional or complex work to be carried out. We will notify you of any revised fee in advance.

If your proposed sale or purchase does not proceed we will charge you a suitable proportion of the agreed fee or will charge you on an hourly basis at our General Non-Contentious Business rate set out above.

D Family and Matrimonial

Where we have not entered into a fixed fee agreement our fees are based on the amount of time we spend in dealing with your matter charged at an agreed hourly rate. The time we spend will include (but not be limited to) the following types of activities: meetings with you, drafting documents, considering, preparing and working on various documents; correspondence; and making and receiving telephone calls, travel to and from the court. Our current hourly rate for this type of work is £165.00 plus VAT.

We will not issue any legal proceedings without first obtaining your express authority but once legal proceedings have begun it is important that you understand that we are entitled to take steps which are usually taken in proceedings of this nature. Apart from our duty to you,we have obligations to the Court as Officers of the Court. We will require you to furnish us promptly with instructions and to comply with orders made by the court in within any timescales set out by the court. Failure to do so could damage the prospects of your case or expose you to additional costs orders being against you by the court. We will also require you to comply with your ongoing duties in relation to discovery.

If you believe that you are eligible for legal aid we will make an application upon your behalf in accordance with the terms in section 14 above.

E Commercial Transactions and Commercial Conveyancing

We will generally try to agree a fixed fee with you at the outset of the transaction which will be based on an estimate of the work to be undertaken, the complexity of the work and value of the transaction. If, however you do not want to agree to an agreed fix fee we will charge you on an hourly basis at our Commercial Business rate of £165.00 + VAT.Routine letters or emails sent and routine telephone calls that we make are charged as units of 1/10th of an hour (£16.50). Routine letters and emails we receive are charged at 1/20th of an hour (£8.25). Other letters, emails and telephone calls are charged depending on the length of time they take.

If your proposed sale or purchase does not proceed we will charge you a suitable proportion of the agreed fee or will charge you on an hourly basis as above.

F Wills and Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPA)

We will prepare your Will on your detailed instructions and in accordance with the current law. We will rely upon you disclosing all the relevant and material facts required to draft your Will. We will not be responsible for any losses you or your estate may sustain as a consequence of you failing to disclose material facts; changes in the law relating to wills, inheritance or taxation or changes to your personal, financial and family circumstances. You may therefore need to review and update your Will from time to time and it shall be your responsibility to make contact with us to do so. We will not be under any obligation to update or review your Will as a consequence of any change in the law or your circumstances unless specifically contacted by you to do so.

We will hold your Will in our safes at our premises until you direct otherwise. Currently we provide this service free of charge but we reserve the right to charge for this service should circumstances change in the future. We reserve our right to charge a fee for uplifting your Will from our safes upon your instruction for the purposes of review, amendment or providing copies. We will require any fees or outlays due to our firm to be discharged before we release your original Will or EPA to you.

In order to administer your estate we will need accurate details of all of your assets at the date of your death. We will not be liable for any financial penalties or interest which might be incurred which may result as a consequence of any delays in providing all or any of this information.

Our current hourly rate for this type of work is £150.00 plus VAT.

In addition to the time we spend we also charge an element based on the value of the estate. This is charged on the following sliding scale which is commonly approved by the Law Society of Northern Ireland:

Gross value of the estate:

From £1.00 to £10,000 – 2.5%

From £10,001 to £30,000 – 2.0%

From £30,001 to £250,000 – 1.5%

From £250,001 to £1,000,000 – 0.5%

From £1,000,001 to £2,000,000 – 0.25%

Over £2,000,000 1/10% – 0.1%