Fees
We always try to provide our clients with an indicative quote before starting to work on any new instruction. Our fees would be very much dependent on the documents in question and what you are asking us to do.
To allow our principal Notary to provide you with an accurate indication on the costs involved on your case, we will usually need to know:
(1) What service you require and the type of document that needs to be notarised. For example: our fees for attesting signatures, certifying copy documents and obtaining legalisation would be cheaper than notarising more complicated documents such as foreign Power of Attorneys.
(2) Who is signing the document and, if the person is signing on behalf of a company, what authority do they have to do so?
(3) How many documents are there?
(4) Which country the notarised document is going to be sent to?
(5) The timescale.
Our charges are based on time spent on your case and this will include meetings with you and others; reading; considering, reviewing, preparing and, if applicable, amending your documents; correspondence; making and receiving telephone calls; and travelling when necessary. There is a minimum charge of £180 for any work complete on private documents and £220 on any company / partnership documents. For more complicated or time-consuming matters the fee will be based on my hourly rate of £250 plus disbursements.
Please note that we do not charge VAT.
There may be additional costs and expenses that have to be incurred during the course of your case such as the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's fees, consular/embassy fees, agents fees, travel costs, postage charges, couriers’ charges, translation costs, interpreter fees, bank charges and unusual stationery costs. These payments are known as disbursements and your approval to these will be obtained before they are incurred. You will normally be required to make payment in advance of such amounts. Please note that VAT may be payable on certain disbursements.
Upon instruction, we will provide you with our best estimate of the total costs that are likely to be incurred in your case. The initial estimate will be based on the information provided at the outset of the case and is not intended to be fixed if your instructions change during the transaction. Please note that occasionally, unforeseen or unusual issues may arise during the course of your matter which may result in a revision of my fee estimate. Examples of this could include where: (1) additional documents are required to be notarised; (2) additional translations or legalisations are needed to meet the requirements of the receiving jurisdiction and (3) third party fees are adjusted to reflect external factors such as fuel price changes and so on. We will notify you of any changes in the fee estimate as soon as possible.
Please note that when you instruct us jointly with others, we are entitled to look at any one or more of you to pay the whole of the charges and disbursements that you jointly incur.