Fixed fees, stated up front.

Every price on this page is a fixed fee for the work described beside it, including GST, so you know the cost before you decide. Your fee is confirmed in writing before any substantive work begins, and anything outside a fixed fee gets a written fee estimate first.

Wills and estates

• Estate plan for one person, $990. A will, an enduring power of attorney and an appointment of a medical treatment decision maker, with one advice meeting, one round of changes and one signing appointment.
• Estate plan for a couple, $1,800. Wills that mirror each other, and an enduring power of attorney and medical treatment decision maker appointment for each of you, at one advice meeting and one signing appointment.
• Single will, $550. A will leaving your estate to the people you name, with up to two specific gifts, your executors and a guardian for young children if you need one, one round of changes and a signing appointment at which it is signed and witnessed correctly.
• Wills for a couple, $1,100. Two wills that mirror each other, on the same terms as the single will, prepared together.
• Enduring power of attorney, $330. Per person. Advice on choosing your attorneys and when their power starts, the document for financial and personal matters, and a signing appointment at which it is signed and witnessed as the law requires.
• Appointment of a medical treatment decision maker, $330. Per person. Advice on choosing the person who will make medical decisions if you cannot, the appointment itself, and a signing appointment at which it is witnessed as the law requires.
• Will with a testamentary trust for one person, from $1,500. Advice on whether a testamentary trust suits you and a will that sets up one standard discretionary trust for your children or other beneficiaries. More than one trust, or a business, company or family trust to deal with, costs more, and your fee is confirmed in writing after the first meeting.
• Wills with testamentary trusts for a couple, from $2,750. Two wills that mirror each other, each setting up one standard testamentary trust, at one advice meeting and one signing appointment, with the same things costing more as for one person.
• Probate application, $1,650. For a straightforward estate, meaning an original will that was properly signed, executors who are able to apply, assets in Victoria and no caveat or challenge. We prepare and file the application, publish the notice of intention to apply and pay its fee, answer the Probate Office's routine questions and send you the grant.
• Letters of administration, $1,980. For a straightforward estate where there is no will, the person applying has the first right to do so and nobody disputes who inherits. Everything in the probate application, plus working out who is entitled and obtaining any consents needed.

Administering an estate after the grant, such as collecting and transferring assets, selling property and distributing to beneficiaries, depends on the estate, so it is estimated in writing once we know its shape.

Family law

• Divorce application, joint, $990. Checking that you can apply, preparing the joint application, helping you both sign it, filing it and dealing with the Court until the divorce order is made, where you have been separated for at least 12 months and did not live under the one roof in that time.
• Divorce application, sole, $1,320. Everything in the joint application, plus arranging service on your spouse, the affidavit proving service and attending the hearing if the Court requires it, where your spouse can be served in Australia and does not oppose the divorce.
• Consent orders for an agreed property settlement, $2,750. Advice on the agreement you have reached, the application for consent orders and the proposed orders, including splitting one superannuation interest and transferring one property, the notice the court's rules require to the super fund, filing and the sealed orders. It assumes you have exchanged full financial disclosure and no company, trust or business is involved.
• Consent orders for agreed parenting arrangements, $2,750. Advice on the arrangements you have agreed, the application and the proposed parenting orders, filing and the sealed orders, where there are no family violence or child safety concerns for the Court to look into.
• Parenting plan, from $1,320. A written plan built from arrangements you have already agreed, covering regular time, holidays and special days, changeovers and decisions, with advice on what a plan does and does not do, including that it cannot be enforced the way court orders can. Further rounds of changes cost more.
• Binding financial agreement, from $2,750. Per party. The advice the law requires for the agreement to be binding, drafting from terms you have agreed, one round of changes with the other party's lawyer, the certificate of independent legal advice and signing. A business, company or trust, more than two properties or negotiating the terms costs more.

In each consent order and agreement we act for you alone; the other party needs a lawyer of their own where the law requires it.

Commercial law

• Lease review for a tenant, from $990. A written summary of the terms that matter, including rent reviews, outgoings, options, fit out and make good, assignment and guarantees, with recommended changes and a call to go through it. For a retail lease it covers the landlord's disclosure statement. A non-standard lease or more than one premises costs more.
• Company set up, $1,100. Registering one proprietary company with up to two directors and shareholders, with its constitution, consents, register of members, share certificates and first resolutions, and an ABN and GST registration if needed. The price includes the ASIC registration fee.
• Shareholders agreement, from $2,200. For one private company with up to three shareholders who have agreed the commercial terms: decisions, share transfers, deadlock, exit and valuation, restraints and disputes, with one round of changes. More shareholders, investors or employee shares cost more.
• Terms of trade, from $1,650. One set of terms for a business selling goods or services, covering orders, payment and credit, delivery, retention of title and liability, drafted to work with the Australian Consumer Law, with one round of changes. Terms for more than one business, or an industry code to follow, cost more.
• Review of a contract to buy a business, from $1,100. A written report on the main risks in the contract and the vendor's disclosure, including price, stock and equipment, the vendor's restraint, employees, conditions and settlement, with a call to go through it. A franchise or a purchase of shares costs more.
• Letter of demand, $440. A letter on the firm's letterhead to one debtor for an undisputed debt, setting out what is owed, any interest the contract allows and a deadline to pay.

Acting on a business purchase through to settlement, negotiating with a landlord and recovering a disputed debt are estimated in writing once we know what is involved.

What the prices do not include

Court and government filing fees are set by government and change each 1 July. For a divorce or consent orders, you pay the Federal Circuit and Family Court's filing fee directly to the Court at the rate it sets, which is reduced for concession card holders and people in financial hardship. For a grant of probate or letters of administration, the Supreme Court's filing fee depends on the value of the estate and is nil for an estate worth less than $250,000. The company set up price includes the ASIC registration fee, and the probate application price includes the fee for publishing the notice of intention to apply. Third party costs that depend on the matter, such as process servers, valuations and searches, are paid at cost, and your costs agreement sets out each of them before work begins.

When a fixed fee does not fit

A dispute, anything outside the work described, or a matter where one of the assumptions above does not hold is charged on a written estimate instead, set out in a costs agreement before any substantive work begins. The first call is where we work out which applies to you.

All prices are in Australian dollars and include GST. A fixed fee applies to work within the description and assumptions above, and your fee is confirmed in writing before any substantive work begins.