Children Law
Children Law
We are highly experienced in relation to care proceedings.
Care proceedings are when the Local Authority become involved in your family.
This can be a frightening time for parents and care givers and they need specialist advice and support.
The parents or carers might need legal advice during:
- Meetings with the Local Authority and/or other professionals involved with their children.
- Court proceedings.
At Row and Scott we can provide practical and expert advice regarding any issues arising with the Local Authority.
Row and Scott have a contract with the Legal Aid Agency which allows us to provide free legal representation to parents and others with parental responsibility for children. We also routinely act for Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles and other extended family members who require legal help.
Criminal Law
Criminal Law
Being investigated or prosecuted for a criminal offence can be an extremely stressful experience which is why it is important to be represented by an experienced and highly qualified representative who understands your needs and knows how to best represent you, be it at the Police Station, Magistrates’ Court, Crown Court or beyond.
At Row and Scott you can be assured that you will be provided with a high level of representation from the outset of any dealings that we have with you. Individually and together we can bring a wealth of experience to meet your needs and requirements.
We have experience in defending all manner of types of alleged criminal offences, including but not limited to the following areas:
- Offences involving violence, including common assault, affray, violent disorder, wounding, manslaughter and murder;
- Sexual offences, including sexual assault and rape;
- Dishonesty offences, ranging from simple thefts, burglaries and including complex frauds and conspiracies to rob;
- Offences involving firearms, to also include act on Firearm License & Shotgun License appeals;
- Drugs offences, including simple possession and ranging to drugs conspiracies;
- Regulatory offences, for example to include offences under the Insolvency Act, Environmental Act offences and Health & Safety Act offences to name a few;
If you have any queries or if you would like us to represent you we would be happy to contact you to discuss this.
We can represent anyone in the police station who is to be interviewed under caution, be it for a voluntary interview or under arrest, free of charge as this is covered by Legal Aid. Depending upon your financial circumstances you may also qualify for legal aid in the Magistrates’ Court. We can advise you if you are likely to qualify for your case.
All people, subject to an exception of a *disposable household income above £37,500, are entitled to Legal Aid in the Crown Court with a contribution, if applicable.
In the event that you would not qualify for Legal Aid and/or if you would like to be represented on a private basis we would advise you of our fees involved up-front so that no work would ever be undertaken without your express agreement. We offer reasonable and competitive fixed fees upon request.
Motoring offences pricing
At Row and Scott we understand that owing to restrictive limits on Legal Aid many people will not qualify for Legal Aid in motoring/Road Traffic Law proceedings.
We understand that providing value for money and cost effective representation is a must and we have sought to reflect this in our fee structure.
Guilty pleas
In matters where a client pleads guilty at Court for a road traffic matter we offer a fixed fee of £300 plus 20% VAT and disbursements (to cover our mileage to and from Court).
Included in this fee is the following:
1 hour conference (where required) prior to the first court hearing;
2 hours reviewing the case papers prior to the court hearing;
All letters, correspondence and telephone calls reasonably incurred;
Attendance at Court to represent until the conclusion of the hearing;
Any advice in connection with an appeal.
What is not included in this fee:
Any disbursements incurred through the instruction of defence experts including:
Defence expert reports;
Site visits;
Costs incurred in relation to a subsequent appeal.
*In the very unlikely event that the hearing did not conclude on the first day and was adjourned we would charge a further £150 plus 20% VAT for any subsequent hearing.
Special Reasons/Exceptional Hardship
These types of hearings are normally listed following a guilty plea to a road traffic offence.
Our fee for representation at a hearing for the above reasons is £350 plus 20% VAT and disbursements.
Included in this fee is the following:
Any time spent considering the evidence in the case;
Any time spent on client conferences;
Any time spent on proofing witnesses;
Representation at the special reasons/exceptional hardship hearing;
Any advice in connection with an appeal following this hearing.
What is not included in this fee?
Any disbursements incurred through the instruction of defence experts including:
Defence expert reports;
Site visits;
Costs incurred in relation to a subsequent appeal.
Not Guilty pleas
In matters were a client pleads not guilty at Court for a road traffic matter we offer a fixed fee of £500 plus 20% VAT and disbursements (again to cover mileage to and from Court).
Included in this fee is the following:
1 hour conference (where required) prior to the first court hearing;
2 hours reviewing the case papers prior to the court hearing;
All letters, correspondence and telephone calls reasonably incurred during the case;
2 hour conference in advance of the trial to discuss the evidence and proof the client and witnesses, where applicable;
Attendance at the first Court hearing and the trial*;
Any advice in connection with an appeal.
What is not included in this fee:
Any disbursements incurred through the instruction of defence experts including:
- Defence expert reports;
- Site visits;
- Costs incurred in relation to a subsequent appeal.
Please note that we would not charge for any costs without notifying you of the same in writing and without your consent to incur the same.
Please also note that the above prices reflect attendances at the areas of Newton Aycliffe, Peterlee, Gateshead and Newcastle. For any attendances that are required out of this area please contact us for a quotation as we would have to consider any extra charges to reflect the additional travel time incurred.
*In the very unlikely event that the trial did not conclude on the first day and was adjourned we would charge a further fee of £300 plus 20% VAT for any additional trial day. Please note that this is very unlikely to happen and would be very rare in the Magistrates’ Court.
Conveyancing
Conveyancing
We are members of the Law Society’s Quality Conveyancing Scheme which is the recognised quality mark for legal experts in buying and selling property.
Whether you are buying, selling or remortgaging we can help.
Legal Fees Sale:-
Price to £125,000.00 – Fixed cost of £894.00
Price to £250,000.00 – Fixed cost of £954.00
Price to £350,000.00 – Fixed cost of £1,014.00
Price to £500,000.00 – Fixed cost of £1,134.00
Price to £750,000.00 – Fixed cost of £1,194.00
Price to £1,000,000.00 – Fixed cost of £1,440.00
Legal Fees Purchase:-
Price to £125,000.00 – Fixed cost of £942.00
Price to £250,000.00 – Fixed cost of £978.00
Price to £350,000.00 – Fixed cost of £1,038.00
Price to £500,000.00 – Fixed cost of £1,158.00
Price to £750,000.00 – Fixed cost of £1,314.00
Price to £1,000,000.00 – Fixed cost of £1,500.00
Legal Fees Remortgage:-
Price to £500,000.00 – Fixed cost of £684.00
Price to £800,000.00 – Fixed cost of £924.00
Price to £1,000,000.00 – Fixed cost of £1,164.00
Legal Fees Transfer of Equity:-
Price to £500,000.00 – Fixed cost of £600.00
Price to £800,000.00 – Fixed cost of £720.00
Price to £1,000,000.00 – Fixed cost of £1,120.00
All conveyancing transactions are subject to disbursements.
Wills, Probate & Power of Attorney
Wills
Losing a loved one is one of the most stressful times in anyone’s life. Do not just assume that your loved ones will benefit from your Estate. Making a Will is something everyone should do and keep under review. If you die without a valid Will, it could be difficult for your family to sort out your affairs. Your Estate will be shared out according to the rules of Intestacy. Under these rules, only married partners, civil partners, and certain close relatives can inherit your Estate. If you and your partner are not married or in a civil partnership then your partner will not have the right to inherit your Estate even if you are living together. It is important to make a Will if you own property, have a business, have children, have savings, investments, or insurance policies.
Making a Will without using a Solicitor can result in mistakes or something not being made clear. Mistakes in your Will can even make it invalid.
You will need to think about who your Executors will be. Executors are people named in your Will who will carry out your wishes after you die. They can be family or friends but you should ask them first if they are willing to take on this role as it involves a lot of responsibility. Most people have two Executors but you can have up to four. You should at least have a second Executor in case your main one is unable to act on your behalf.
Your Will is only valid if two witnesses watch you sign it. You must ensure that your Executors know where your Will is kept. We do not charge for storing Wills.
You should keep your Will under review to make sure that it is up to date. This is especially important if your circumstances change, for example:
- If you get married or enter into a civil partnership as this will automatically cancel any existing Will.
- Buy a new property.
- Buy an expensive asset.
- Divorce or separate from your partner.
Our charges are as follows:-
- Basic Will – £250 inclusive of vat. This is for a straight forward Will for one person
- Mirror Wills – £500 inclusive of vat. In other words two Wills that are almost identical.
Should you require a letter of wishes, a further £100 plus 20% VAT will be charged per letter required.
If you would like to discuss how we can help you then please contact a member of our team.
Lasting Powers of Attorney
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that lets you appoint one or more people (known as your Attorney’s) to help you make decisions or to make decisions on your behalf.
There are two types of LPA
- Property and Financial Affairs
- Health and Welfare
The Property and Financial Affairs LPA allows you to authorise people to make decisions concerning your assets and personal property.
An LPA for Health and Welfare allows your Attorney’s to make decisions about things such as your daily living routine or moving to a care home. You can also give your Attorney’s the power to provide or withhold consent for life sustaining medical treatment.
When creating an LPA, you will need a Certificate Provider to countersign your application to ensure that you have the mental capacity to make the LPA and that you were not acting under any pressure or undue influence. Provided that this is the case and we have prepared your LPA we are able to act as your Certificate Provider.
Our charges are as follows:-
- £500.00 plus 20% VAT for 2 (One person health and welfare & property and financial affairs)
- £800.00 plus 20% VAT for 4 (two people, both documents)
The above is payable along with the relevant fee which currently stands at £82 per document.
Should you wish to discuss LPA’s further please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team.
Probate
The fees involved in a probate matter can vary and this will depend on the individual circumstances involved.
We offer both fixed fees and an hourly charging rate, whereby you will be charged for each hour of work undertaken.
Grant of Probate
In order for us to assist you through the difficult process of obtaining a Grant of Representation, we are able to offer a fixed fee. This will involve us completing the appropriate HMRC form and Probate Application, drafting the legal statement for you to sign and making the application to the Probate Court on your behalf. Once the Probate is obtained, we will securely send copies to you.
Fixed fees where the IHT205 form is required: £750 + 20% VAT and Probate fee
Should you require us to obtain date of death figures on your behalf OR should there be no Will, we would estimate that this would take another 2 hours’ worth of work and therefore we would estimate our costs to be between £750 – £1,200 + 20% VAT. Please note that these fees do not include the situation in which the estate must complete a IHT400 and quotes will be given for this on an individual basis.
Full Administration of Estate
Should you require us to obtain the necessary Grant of Representation and then deal with the estate in full, we calculate our charges based on the time spent. Separately, should the gross estate be worth more than £750,000 we will apply a charge of 1% of gross cash and 0.5% of residence.
Should we be appointed as Executors and the gross estate is over £750,000, this value element will be 1.5% of gross cash and 0.75% of residence.
Disbursements payable
- Probate Court fee: £300
- Cost of copies of original Grant of Probate/ Letters of Administration: £1.50 a copy
- Creditors Notices/Local Newspapers and the London Gazette: £300 – £400 approx.
- Land Registry fee, dependant on the property value, ranging from: £30 – £400
- Land Registry Search fees: £7.00
- Land Charges Search against each Beneficiary: £6.00
Housing
We run the Legal Aid Agency’s Duty Possession Scheme in Northumberland and in Newcastle. The scheme offers free legal advice at court for those people facing possession proceedings in respect of rented and mortgaged properties.
