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Our Family Law department comprises our Partners, Susan Wightman and Sally McCartney. Susan was admitted as a solicitor in 1987, came to Kippen Campbell in 1991, and has been a partner since 1996. She is a Law Society of Scotland Accredited Family Law Specialist, a designation first awarded to her in 1997. She is also a member of the Family Law Association and a qualified Collaborative Family Lawyer. Sally was admitted as a solicitor in 1997, joined the firm in 2003 and was assumed as a partner in 2009. She is a member of the Family Law Association.
For decades, our expert Family Law department have advised clients on a range of legal questions relating to children and to parenting. If you require advice about parental rights and legal responsibilities, about a residence or contact order in respect of a child, or if you are concerned about how separation or divorce will affect your relationship with your children and their other parent, we can help.
We offer a fixed fee service for undefended residence order applications. An undefended action seeking a residence order for children under 16 may be appropriate where it is necessary to secure the residence of children under 16 by court order and where there is no known likely opposition. We will meet you to consider and discuss if these procedures are appropriate for your case. This may require us to gather information so we can be sure that the procedure is appropriate.
For this first meeting, our fixed fee will be £350 plus VAT at 20%.
Our fixed price includes meeting you, taking your instructions and providing advice on the procedure; collecting information from you about your position, your finances and family circumstances; assessing if this procedure is appropriate in your case and advising you on next steps.
If this procedure is appropriate, then our fixed fee for completing the procedure will be £900 plus VAT (£1080 inclusive of VAT). This excludes outlays (fees which may need to be paid to third parties).
The outlays will include:
Court fees: These increase annually. The current fees are £295.
Service fees: Service by Sheriff Officer, where service by recorded delivery has not been possible. The current fee is variable but usually about £120.
Our fixed price includes drafting the court writ, lodging the application and any supporting documents with the court, preparing and lodging witness affidavits and the final application for decree.
This fixed price will only cover the services mentioned. Your case may require additional work that is not included. We will discuss this with you at our initial meeting, or at subsequent meetings. If additional costs arise due to unforeseen circumstances, we will discuss this with you at the earliest opportunity and we will advise you of any increase in price that may arise.
Where we are unable to offer a Fixed Fee, the work undertaken will be charged by reference to an hourly rate. Our hourly rates are revised on 1st May each year, with Susan’s current hourly rate being £280 per hour plus VAT (currently 20%) broken down into £28.00 per 6-minute units or part thereof. Sally’s hourly rate is £275 per hour plus VAT (currently 20%) broken down into £27.50 per 6-minute units or part thereof. Additionally a charge of 5% of the total assessed fee, plus VAT, will be charged to cover posts and incidents.
Telephone calls will be charged at £28.00 and £27.50 per 6-minute unit or part thereof, respectively.
Letters will be charged at 1.25 units per page of 100 words or part thereof.
The drafting of Deeds and Court documents will be charged at 5 units per sheet of 200 words or part thereof.
Copying will be charged at £1.00 per page for the first copy of any document and 40p per page for each subsequent copy.
There will be a separate one-off charge of £25 plus VAT at 20% in respect of our gathering (and updating, where necessary), documentation to comply with the Anti-Money Laundering regulations and administrative matters when opening your file.
The number of hours spent on your case will be determined by the complexity and the unique circumstances of your case. We will discuss the likely cost of your case with you at our initial meeting and at subsequent meetings. If additional costs arise due to unforeseen circumstances, we will discuss this with you at the earliest opportunity and we will advise you of any increase in cost that may arise. The hourly rate does not include any outlays that may be required. These are variable depending on the nature of the case. We will discuss what these may be at our initial meeting, or at subsequent meetings.
I would like to put on record my gratitude for your personal skill and determination to achieve this result for us…. We depended greatly on your advice, your advocacy and the efficiency of your firm. Throughout you have helped to reinforce the principles of fairness, efficacy and trust. Very many thanks.
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