Christmas Opening – Please note that our Annitsford Office will be closed from Tuesday 24th December, our Newcastle and Ashington Offices will be closed from Friday 20th December until Thursday 2nd January 2025.
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Being injured as a result of someone else’s negligence is a serious matter. It can have huge implications for you and your family. Our legal experts have a wealth of experience in handling personal injury cases.
It’s a sad fact that not all medical or dental treatment has a successful outcome. At Browell Smith & Co Solicitors our team of highly-skilled solicitors have the legal and medical expertise to assist you when you need it most.
Browell Smith & Co Solicitors’ experienced and dedicated family law team prides itself on providing outstanding service to our clients. We will listen to you, explain to you your options and we are committed to finding our clients the best possible outcome.
We understand organising your affairs for later life can be a daunting prospect. At Browell Smith & Co Solicitors our experts are here to make this process as straightforward as possible.
Browell Smith & Co Solicitors understand that moving home can be one of the most exciting but also most stressful times of your life. This is why we feel it’s important you have the right legal team to guide you through the process.
Browell Smith & Co Solicitors have been serving the North East for more than 20 years, helping over 160,000 clients through the good times, the sad times, in sickness and in health.
As a firm, it is our intention to conduct client’s business promptly, efficiently and to the highest standards of professional skill and competence.
Our Wills & Probate team, will have responsibility for the day to day conduct of your matter and will be supervised by Lucy Brown, Associate Solicitor and Head of Wills & Probate.
At any time Lucy may be assisted by any member of the Wills & Probate Department.
It is, of course, the firm’s policy to keep clients fully informed of progress, but should you require any additional information or explanation of how matters are proceeding, then please do not hesitate to speak to any of the Wills & Probate team, who will be able to assist you with your enquiries and/or accept messages from you, to arrange for one of the team to return your call if you should wish to discuss matters with them personally.
We do make every effort not to change the person dealing with your matter, however, on occasion this may be unavoidable. If this occurs, we will promptly inform you of who will be handling your case and why the change was necessary.
To enable us to conduct your matter expeditiously and to advise you fully, we would seek your assistance in the form of full and clear instructions, provision of all relevant documentation and timely replies to correspondence. Undertaking correspondence (letters and telephone calls) costs money, and your efforts to avoid unnecessary expense by responding promptly may prevent the need for amendments or alterations to the Will, thereby keeping costs down. Please do not forget to tell us if you change address or you go away for any period of time.
The costs in this matter will be in accordance with the Scale of Costs attached to this letter. Any amendment or alteration to your original instructions may also incur additional costs.
The scale of costs has been prepared on the assumption that you will meet with us in our offices, or at an alternative venue arranged by us.
The estimate will only cover the work you instructed us to undertake at the time it was calculated. A simple Will may not always be suitable. If we do not believe it would be suitable to your circumstances we will advise you of this. If, despite our advice to the contrary, you decide to proceed with a basic Will, we may require you to sign a disclaimer acknowledging our advice.
As a member of the Certainty National Will Register we will automatically register your Will with the Certainty National Will Register once your Will has been Executed. The Register will simply record that we store your Will. Details of the contents of your Will are not disclosed to anyone and are not provided to the National Will Register. Following your death, the register gives us details about anyone who is looking for your Will. If the query comes from the correct person we answer it, but if not, we ignore it; protecting the privacy of both you and your beneficiaries.
If you do not wish for your Will to be registered with the Certainty National Will Register please inform us when returning your client care schedule by signing and returning the enclosed Certainty form. Please only return the enclosed form regarding the Certainty National Will register if you do not wish for your Will to be registered.
We call these ‘Disbursements’. They are payments made by us on your behalf. These will be charged for in addition to our own costs. You will have to repay us for any expenses or payments we make on your behalf. We have no obligation to make the payments unless you provide the funds. Disbursements will be shown separately in our Bills to you. We will not normally check with you prior to incurring routine disbursements, however, we will consult with you before incurring expenses of an exceptional or non routine nature.
Our professional charges will be shown in the Bill as a figure net of VAT. VAT will be shown as a separate item within the Bill. Some Disbursements will also attract VAT.
A Bill for work to date and any disbursements incurred will be prepared and submitted to you for payment upon completion of the Draft Will.
The above methods will assist you to budget for our costs. If payment is not made, then we reserve the right to decline to act any further. Accounts are due for payment within 7 days of being submitted. Interest may be charged on invoices that are not paid within that time at 4% above the Bank of England’s base rate, calculated on a daily basis from date of the invoice up to date of payment. If you have a query regarding any Bill delivered to you, please contact your conducting fee-earner straight away.
It may be the case that some other person or organisation agrees, or is ordered, to pay your costs. Despite that, you will remain personally responsible for paying our costs and expenses as they fall due.
Our ‘interest policy’ in terms of client money held on account can be found on our website at http://www.browells.co.uk/index.php/about-us/interest-policy
If the documentation you have instructed us to prepare is not completed due to a change in your instructions or for any other reason, we will make a charge for the work which we have already completed. We will calculate the costs and expenses due on the time actually spent upon the matter. Depending upon the amount of work done, our costs may be in proportion with the estimate previously given, or may equal it.
Upon completion of the work, we are entitled to keep all of your papers and documents until all of our costs and expenses have been paid. The Law Society requires us to store client files for different periods of time depending upon the nature of the work. We will tell you more about this at the conclusion of the matter. We store files on the understanding that we have authority to destroy the file at the end of that period, save for any documents you request us to store in safe custody such as Deeds and Wills.
Our liability and that of our employees and Agents, whether arising in contract, negligence or otherwise, in any matter will be limited to £10,000,000 for any claim or series of claims arising out of the same circumstances.
Details of our complaints procedure and our obligations in accordance with the solicitors code of conduct “Provision of Services Regulations 2009” can be found on our web site www.browells.co.uk Copies are available on request from any of our offices.
Although the Firm provides advice from many offices, a central postal system is in use. The central office details are as shown on this letter. All postal communication with the Firm should be to this central address. All correspondence from the Firm will bear the central office details. Please feel free, however, to hand deliver items to the office at which your appointments take place, if that is more convenient for you.
All post received by the Firm will be electronically scanned and stored to your file. That will ensure that your file is accessible to those of us who need to work upon the file, wherever we may be based from time to time. I am sure you will appreciate the benefits to you of such a facility.
The Firm operates a central telephone exchange, covering all of the Firm’s offices, which deals with all calls in to the Firm. This enables all of our Receptionists to be available to take calls as well as facilitating direct access to the Lawyer dealing with your case and their Secretary where appropriate. Lines are open from 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday, excluding Public Holidays.
As a firm we are committed to looking after our environment and wherever possible documentation and correspondence on your matter will be electronically stored as opposed to keeping a ‘paper file’.
Should you request a paper copy of any documentation or correspondence relating to your matter then we reserve the right to additionally charge you. This amount will be confirmed to you and will need to be paid on account prior to ourselves incurring the cost of such a request.
Should you request a further copy of any documentation or correspondence by electronic method, which has already been sent to you, then we reserve the right to additionally charge you.
We would advise you to consider keeping your own record of correspondence and documentation that you may receive from us whether it be by email or otherwise to avoid incurring any additional costs.
We have attached a schedule entitled “Notice of the Right to Cancel” which is compliant with The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. This provides for a 14 day “cooling off” period to enable you to cancel our contract if you wish. We shall, of course, begin working on your case as soon as we can. If you do not wish for us to work on your file during this period, please contact us.
Disbursements
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.
In a Probate matter the following disbursements are likely to apply:
Potential additional costs
*Assumptions:
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