Whether they are required to settle a messy divorce, a dispute with a
neighbour or to purchase a new home, legal fees are considered a necessary
evil.
Drawing up a pair of discretionary trust wills can cost £800. A high street
solicitor can charge up to £1,000 to arrange a petition for divorce before
the matter even reaches court. However, there are ways to reduce your legal
bills. Here, Times Money runs through the options.
Basic advice
A quick Google search reveals free legal information can be found at
government and nonprofit websites such as www.directgov.co.uk
and www.adviceguide.org.uk.
Other websites, such as www.freelawyer.co.uk,
offer free preliminary advice but will point you towards an expensive
solicitor for complex problems.
Which?, the consumer organisation, offers an online legal service subscription
for less than £1 a week for nonmembers, which includes unlimited telephone
access to lawyers. Subscribers can also download letters to tackle high
utilities bills, unsatisfactory building work or restaurant meals, or to
refuse faulty goods or complain about an accountant or lawyer.
Car insurance policies tend to include “free legal advice” in the event of an
accident, or offer the service for a fee of about £20 a year. However,
experts give warning that such policies will restrict your choice of lawyer
when it comes to starting a case.
Divorce
The best way to reduce legal costs in a divorce is to avoid going to court,
opting instead for a private deal, says Julia Whittel, of Punter Southall,
the independent financial adviser.
This involves appointing solicitors trained in the collaborative process. The
downside to this is that if you fail to reach an agreement you will need to
hire new lawyers for litigation.
Ms Whittle says: “A lot of people make the commitment to do things as amicably
as possible, although this can be tricky. However, people generally want to
talk about the children in an objective environment and about finances as
openly as possible. And when people sit down in a rational environment and
talk about the real value of assets, it is easier to resolve disputes.”
Conveyancing
Many lenders, including Nationwide and Woolwich, offer “fee-free” deals for
remortgaging. However, Abbey will cover the legal costs for first-time
buyers on its two-year fix at 6.34 per cent.
A solicitor or a licensed conveyancer, who is trained solely in property
transactions, can assist with a sale. As ever, it pays to shop around. But
Ray Boulger, of John Charcol, the mortgage broker, says that the cheapest
conveyancer is not necessarily the best. “Going by word of mouth is the best
way to find a good lawyer,” he says. “Finding a conveyancer through the Yellow
Pages or an online search engine can be a case of pot luck.”
The Law Society (www.lawsociety.org.uk
) has contact details for solicitors who specialise in conveyancing.
Alternatively, go to www.cls.gov.au for a directory of licensed conveyors.
Wills and power of attorney
There are plenty of will-writing templates available online, including www.tenminutewill.co.uk
. The average cost is about £40 for a single will. There is no need for a
will to be witnessed by a solicitor, but it is a good idea to have one check
any complicated instructions.
More Than Legal Services has an interactive question and answer system for
drawing up a will. You can then e-mail the finished product to a lawyer to
check that it is legally binding. The service costs £18 on top of basic home
insurance, which costs about £150 a year. Some trade unions also offer a
free will-writing service to their members.
Cohabitation and tenancy agreements
These documents also do not require a lawyer or a witness. Nonmembers can
download tenancy agreement templates from the Residential Landlords
Association website at www.rla.org.uk
for £5 a document. Alternatively, for an annual fee of £65, you can
subscribe to www.landlordlaw.co.uk
for documents and advice.
To find a basic cohabitation agreement, go to www.advicenow.org.uk, a
not-for-profit website, or Love-and-money.co.uk, which is run by Skipton
Building Society.
CASE STUDY
Jed Newton, of East London, has a household insurance policy with More Than
insurance and pays £18 a year for the legal services “add-on”.
The 28-year-old mortgage adviser, left, is using the service’s online document
service to draw up a will before taking a long holiday abroad over
Christmas.
It is the first time that Mr Newton has used the service and he says that he
may also use it to draw up a cohabitation agreement with his girlfriend and
a lasting power of attorney when he has completed the will.
He says says: “I spend all my days advising people to draw up wills because
it’s the correct thing to do, but until now I didn’t have one myself. I have
been through the process of arranging wills with my parents, who used a
laywer. The lawyer was good, but it was expensive and time consuming – they
had a long preliminary meeting, followed by a signing meeting.
“For someone with straightforward circumstances, it seems more simple and less
expensive to use the online service.”
Keep it simple with small claims
The small claims court can be used for simple matters, such as claiming
compensation for faulty goods or services or disputes between landlords and
tenants.
The amount in question must be less than £5,000 or less than £1,000 for
personal injury claims.
You must try to settle a claim before taking court action. Make your claim in
writing, giving the other party at least a month to reply and give warning
that you plan to take court action.
To start a claim, fill in a form available from local courts or at www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk
. Send two copies and the fee to your local court. If you instruct a
solicitor you will have to pay the costs yourself.
For help with small claims or advice on more complex cases, consult the
Citizens Advice Bureau at www.adviceguide.org.uk.
