As one of South Yorkshire’s most experienced Family Solicitors practices, we pride ourselves on the quality of our service and our expertise.

Utilising our knowledge and experience we can assist you in a number of ways that are tailored to your situation and budget. Our fees are competitive, open, transparent and cost effective.

We offer a 30 minutes initial free appointment.

Fixed Fees

Fixed fees are available for the following:-

Petitioner Solicitor Managed Divorce (leaving the divorce in our capable hands from start to finish) – £490 plus VAT £98 plus Court fees*

What is covered? 

• Initial meeting or telephone call
• Preparing the divorce documentation
• All correspondence with you, the other party and the Court regarding the divorce
• Ongoing support throughout the case via email or telephone
• Corresponding with the other party to inform them about the divorce and sharing a draft petition in advance
• Dealing with the divorce from start to finish
• Sending the Decree Absolute out to you

What is not covered?

• Contested divorce proceedings
• Any application for/or arranging personal service of the divorce proceedings
• The cost of obtaining a duplicate marriage certificate
• Translation of your marriage certificate
• Advice or work in connection with children, financial matters, domestic abuse, protection of assets or change of name
• The cost of interpreters
• Any application to amend the divorce petition
• Any advice or representation with regard to pursuing or enforcing costs against the other party

Respondent Solicitor Managed Divorce (leaving the divorce in our capable hands from start to finish) – £225 plus VAT £45

What is covered?

• Initial meeting or telephone call
• Completing and returning your Acknowledgement of Service form to the Court
• All correspondence with you, the other party and the Court regarding the divorce
• Notifying you of the date for pronouncement of the Decree Nisi
• Forwarding to you the Decree Nisi
• Forwarding to you the Decree Absolute

What is not covered?

• Contested divorce proceedings
• Advice or work carried out in connection with children, financial matters, domestic abuse or change of name
• The cost of interpreters
• Translation of the divorce petition or any subsequent documentation
• Any questions raised by the District Judge concerning the agreement
• If the order is rejected by the Court then any work to re-draft the order
• Mediation advice

Separation Agreements – £450 plus VAT £90

What is covered?

• An initial meeting or telephone call to discuss the agreement
• A detailed letter of advice
• Initial correspondence with the other party to verify the agreement
• Drafting the agreement and schedule of assets
• Sharing the agreement with the other party for approval
• A meeting with you to execute the agreement

What is not covered?

• Detailed negations with the other party to reach the agreement
• An analysis of the financial disclosure
• An investigation into your partner’s financial circumstances
• Mediation advice

Issuing Children’s Application – £200 plus VAT £40 plus the Court fee*

What is covered?

• An initial meeting with you or telephone call
• Preparation of the Court application forms
• Issuing the application at the Court
• Postal service of the papers on the other party

What is not covered?

• Representation at the Court hearing
• Any ongoing advice after the service of the application by postal service
• Personal service of the application upon the other party
• Any discussions with CAFCASS or other expert

Representation at a children’s FHDRA/Directions/Review hearing – £450 plus VAT £90

What is covered?

• Representation at a hearing for which the time estimate is no longer than 60 minutes
• Travel to Court
• All time at Court for the duration of the hearing
• All preparation, advice and advocacy at the hearing
• Drafting of the order
• A letter to you confirming the outcome of the hearing

What is not covered?

• Issuing the application
• Any ongoing representation at future Court hearings
• Representation at hearings for which the time estimate is greater than 60 minutes

Injunction Application – £650 plus VAT £130

What is covered?

• Initial attendance upon you or telephone call
• Taking instructions for a statement
• Drafting the application for a Non-Molestation and/or Occupation Order together with the witness statement
• Issuing proceedings at the Court
• Representation at the inter-partes hearing
• A letter confirming the outcome of the hearing
• Preparation of the order

What is not covered?

• Representation at any subsequent hearing
• Representation at an ex-parte hearing
• The cost of service of the application and order by Court bailiff, enquiry agent or process server
• Enforcement of any breach
• Any application to vary, appeal or dismiss the order

In some circumstances it is necessary to go to Court urgently without informing the other party that proceedings have been issued and, therefore, an ex-parte hearing is necessary. The cost of the ex-parte hearing can be covered by initial fixed fee of £300 plus VAT £60, however this does not cover the cost of personal service of any ex-parte order.

Prenuptial Agreements – £600 plus VAT £120

What is covered?

• An initial meeting or telephone call to take instructions
• Advice on prenuptial agreements, recognition in English law and best practice
• Drafting the prenuptial agreement
• Sharing the draft agreement with the other party for approval
• Preparation of a schedule of assets
• Final meeting to approve the agreement and for it to be executed

What is not covered?

• Detailed investigation into your partner’s financial circumstances
• Any negotiations to bring about an agreement

Living Together Agreements/Cohabitation Contracts – £600 plus VAT £120

What is covered?

• An initial meeting or telephone call to take instructions
• Advice on agreements, recognition in English law and best practice
• Drafting the agreement
• Sharing the draft agreement with the other party for approval
• Completing a schedule of assets
• Final meeting to approve the agreement and for it to be executed

What is not covered?

• Any legal advice with the other party
• Any work beyond execution of the agreement

Parental Responsibility Agreement – £175 plus VAT £35

What is covered?

• An initial meeting or telephone call
• Advice regarding parental responsibility agreements
• Preparation of the agreement
• Sending the agreement out to both yourself and the other party with an explanation as to how it should be signed
• Receiving the agreement back signed and forwarding it to the Principal Registry in London for registration
• Notifying you that the agreement has been registered

What is not covered?

• An application to the Court for a Parental Responsibility Order
• Any work beyond notification from the Principal Registry that the agreement has been registered

Adult Change of Name Deed – £80 plus VAT £16

What is covered?

• An initial meeting with you to discuss your change of name
• Preparation of the Change of Name Deed
• Attendance on you to execute the Change of Name Deed
• Provision of 5 certified copies of the Deed

What is not covered?

• Any advice outside of change of name
• Registration of the change of name with the various companies/organisations who know you

Statutory Declaration For Eligibility to Marry

• £80 plus VAT £16 for one party; or
• £130 plus VAT £26 for two parties

What is covered?

•  Initial attendance or telephone to take instructions on the proposed marriage, date, venue and legal requirements for that country
• Preparation of the Statutory Declaration(s)
• Arranging for the Statutory Declarations to be declared at independent Solicitors

What is not covered?

• The witnessing of your signature on the Statutory Declaration for which there is a £5 fee each with alternative independent Solicitors
• Any work beyond the signing of the Statutory Declaration(s)
• The witnessing of your signature on the Statutory Declaration for which there is a £5 fee each with alternative independent Solicitors
• Any work beyond the signing of the Statutory Declaration(s)

Pay as You Go

Our pay as you go service is designed to lower the costs of your family matter.  At GWBHarthills we understand that many people are able to discuss matters directly and therefore this package is designed only to offer essential legal advice.  We understand that at difficult times when you may require a specialist Family Solicitors when finances can be tight.

The average divorce and financial case can rack up massive legal fees/bills just when you need to start watching how you spend your money.  GWBHarthills pay as you go service is designed to allow you to access advice you pay for exactly what advice you receive.

Is pay as you go right for you?

The benefits of pay as you go is that you receive legal advice only as and when you need it. This gives you control and you would act “in person”. You will do your own paperwork and administration to reduce your costs.

We would provide the legal advice.  You only see your specialist GWBHarthills Solicitor when you really need to. GWBHarthills would not automatically represent you at any Court Proceedings or through any aspect of the process. You simply pay for the time that you have with GWBHarthills.

Should you require representation at a Court hearing or other advice then our traditional or fixed fee pricing models are also available.

The benefit of the pay as you go service is flexibility and that you access advice when you need it.  If you do need more support then either our traditional model or fixed fee service may be more appropriate.

How does pay as you go work?

The idea of the pay as you go advice is that we do not write letters to the other party, have telephone conversations or negotiation on your behalf.  We simply advise you over specific issues that you may have.

We will keep detailed records of all our discussions and you will be able to get copies of our notes. However, we will not be acting for you but we will give you clear advice on the ways in which you can move matters forward yourself.

We can draft documents for you if necessary although there may be separate charges for this.

We can signpost you to other experts such as mediators, family therapists and life coaches.

What you need to do

You need to be confident that you can speak to the other party.  It is essential that you keep track and copies of all communication between yourself and the other party.

You will need to pay for any advice you wish to receive upfront and be confident that you are able to negotiate and deal with your case yourself without the need for ongoing Solicitors advice or letters drafted by Solicitors.

Our charges

We charge you for our time so that you only pay for the amount of time that you use.

Our hourly rates:

Christine Thomson  £160 plus VAT

You will receive a terms and conditions letter from ourselves making it clear of our exact terms of business.

Traditional

We still offer traditional payment structures. Our traditional pricing options allow you to pay for work based on the time we spend on your case.

Our hourly rates are as per “pay-as-you-go” above.

We will charge you in 6 minute units for the work that we do. If something takes our family specialist 30 minutes you will pay 30 minutes.

This option is that you pay for exactly what you get. If you want to speak to us for a short period of time to answer a quick query, it will not cost you a great deal. The downside to this is that, whilst we can give an estimate as to the likely costs, it is not an exact science and, therefore, some cases with very similar issues can cost vastly more than other cases dependent on the circumstances outside of our control.

*Court fees are available from the Court Service website or from form EX50*