08/07/2021

It is not unusual to find legal practices offering free family law appointments, usually consisting of an initial 20-30 minute consultation with a legal adviser.

A free family law appointment might seem like an attractive offer, but is it actually worthwhile?

In our experience, people who are facing family difficulties or breakdown, need absolute clarity about where they stand and what their options are.

Outlining the details of your situation is essential in order for your solicitor to provide you with meaningful, accurate advice.

This takes time and very often at free family law appointments, by the time you have conveyed all of the necessary information, there is little time left for detailed advice to be given.

Similarly, before you have properly instructed your solicitor, they can only really provide a general overview and vague guidance.

This can leave you with more questions than answers and necessitate you booking further paid-for appointments.

As the old saying goes, ‘you get what you pay for’, which is why I would advocate choosing a fully-qualified, experienced solicitor to deal with your family matter.

Even if you have to pay a modest fee for your consultation, at least you can have confidence that the advice you are receiving is tailored to your circumstances and will be genuinely helpful to you as you move forward.

There is a lot for clients to think about when they find themselves in need of family legal advice, for example, legal, financial, business, pension, property and child-related issues.

Sometimes it’s difficult to take all of this information in and to remember everything that you’ve been told, especially when you might already be feeling emotional and stressed. At a paid-for initial appointment you can expect to receive a written follow-up report or plan to help you establish a clear path forward, regardless of whether you ultimately choose to instruct that particular solicitor or not.

My advice would be that if you’re serious about resolving your family issues and you want clear, tailored advice, choose a highly-rated, experienced solicitor and view the fee charged as an investment, as it will save you time and potentially stress in the long-run.

At Beswicks, we offer our Beswicks Overview Service which consists of an initial meeting with a fully-qualified, experienced family solicitor where we explore the details of your case. This could be over the phone, by video call or at our office and will typically last for one-hour. We will lay out for you the steps in your case, the direction that your case might take, the possible and likely outcomes, any risks that you face, any options that you have, associated timings, costs and tactics and we will, of course, answer all of your questions.

After the meeting, we will prepare a Moving Forward Plan for you, which confirms all of our views in writing, providing a thorough overview of where you are and where you might go.

Our Beswicks Overview service is charged at a fixed fee of £250+vat.

To book an appointment, simply call 01782 205000 or email enquiry@beswicks.com.