Paying for your legal fees

Legal aid for family law

Miles & Partners Solicitors can provide advice funded by Legal Aid in relation to certain family matters.

Eligibility for funding will depend on the issue and your income and capital.

You can check eligibility with the Government’s Legal Aid Online Calculator.

Or speak to one of our solicitors and we can guide you through your options.

Insurance

It is worth checking if you have any insurance policies which cover legal expenses, for example this might be covered by your:

• household insurance;
• credit card; or
• a membership scheme.

If you do have appropriate legal expenses cover, then we can liaise with your insurer.

Self-pay

Every family is unique and so before we can provide you with information about costs, we need to understand:

• the nature of the issue;
• your particular circumstances; and
• what you wish to achieve.

We can do this over the phone or via a video-meeting.

So, the first step is to get in touch.

You can click here to request an initial consultation or call us on 020 7426 0400.

Detailed proposals

We will provide you with a written proposal which outlines:

• the objectives;
• a step-by step outline of the process;
• our approach;
• the basis of legal costs;
• disbursements; and
• options for payment.

Disbursements

If a case has to go to court, then there will be various external costs over which we have no control, but as your solicitor we are obliged to pass these on. For example:

• court fees;
• cost of a barrister;
• experts reports;
• process servers fees; and
• Land Registry Fees.

If costs have to be paid in advance, then we may require a payment upfront.

Options for payment

We usually offer at least three options for payment, and we are confident there will be an option which is suitable for you.

Confirm our instruction

If you are happy with our proposals and have decided on a payment option, then you simply need to let your solicitor know by phone or by email.

The paperwork

Before we can start work, we will need to verify your identity and will need you to provide a couple of documents for this.

We will also send you our ‘Client Care’ letter and our ‘Terms and Conditions of business’.

Once you have read these, you will need to sign both documents and send them back to us.

Payments

You will be sent details of how to pay for our services.  We accept payment by:

• cheque;
• online bank transfer; and
• credit or debit card.

Any questions?

If you have any other questions, please ask your solicitor.

Or for payments or billing queries, you can call our accounts team on 020 7426 0400.