Most people ring a solicitor on the worst week of a long year.

Somebody has died. A sale has fallen through. A job has ended badly. You are not shopping around for a brand, you are trying to find out whether this is going to be expensive and how long it is going to take.

So we publish the fee. Every piece of work below has a figure next to it, and if your matter turns out not to fit one of them, we will tell you that on the first call rather than three letters in.

Four solicitors, one office on Micklegate, acting for people in York, Harrogate and the Vale since 1998.

Section one

Matters we take

We do four things properly rather than everything adequately. If what you need is not on this list we will say so, and usually we can tell you who in York does take it.

01
Wills, probate and lasting powers of attorneyWriting the will, and then, years later, dealing with the estate. Most of our probate work comes from wills we wrote ourselves.
02
Residential conveyancingBuying, selling, transferring a share, remortgaging. One solicitor and one assistant on your file from start to completion, both named in the first letter.
03
Employment, for the employeeSettlement agreements, grievances, dismissals and discrimination claims. We do not act for employers, so there is never a conflict.
04
Disputes about property and boundariesNeighbours, rights of way, deeds that disagree with the fence. Usually solved by a letter, occasionally not.

Section two

What it costs

Fixed unless stated. VAT is included in every figure on this page, because quoting a legal fee without the VAT is how people end up twenty per cent out.

Single willAppointment, draft, amendments and signing in the office

£240Fixed

Mirror wills, a coupleTwo wills written together, one appointment

£390Fixed

Lasting power of attorneyPer document, plus the registration fee payable to the Office of the Public Guardian

£395Fixed

Grant of probate onlyYou gather the figures, we do the application and the oath

£950Fixed

Full estate administrationEverything, from the death certificate to the final distribution

1.5%Of the estate

Sale or purchase, freeholdPlus disbursements, which we list in writing before you instruct us

£1,150Fixed

Settlement agreement, advice and signatureNormally paid by your employer as part of the agreement

£500Usually covered

First hour, any matterAdvice on where you stand, with nothing committed afterwards

FreeNo obligation

If a matter goes beyond the fixed fee, we stop and write to you with a revised figure before doing the extra work. We have never sent a client a bill they had not already seen the number for.

Section three

What happens after you ring

Same day
You speak to a solicitor, not a call handlerIf all four of us are with clients you get a call back before we close, and we say which of us it will be.
Day two
A letter setting out the work and the feeOn paper or by email, your choice. It says who is doing the work, what it costs, and what we need from you.
Week one
Identity checks and the file opensFifteen minutes in the office with a passport, or online if you would rather not come in.
Fortnightly
An update, whether or not anything has movedIncluding the weeks where the answer is that we are waiting on somebody else. Silence is the thing clients complain about most, so we removed it.

Leather bound volumes behind the glass of an old bookcase — The reference library on the first floor. Nobody has opened these since the practice went digital in 2011, and nobody is willing to throw them out either.

Section four

Who you would be dealing with

Priya Carrington

Partner · Wills and probate

Qualified in 1996, here since the practice opened. Takes the view that most family arguments after a death were avoidable two years earlier with one honest conversation and a properly drafted will.

Tom Wells

Partner · Property and disputes

Conveyancing and the boundary work. Will tell you before you instruct him whether a dispute is worth running, including the times when the honest answer is that it is not.

The first hour costs nothing and you are not signed up to anything.

Arrange a first appointment