25 Mar 2013

Our fees are capped, not fixed

Our fees are capped, not fixed. Don’t pay more than you need to for tracing missing legatees.

When it comes to tracing missing UK legatees, there seems to be a move towards fixed fees. A leading firm of probate genealogists has just published its new fixed fee prices for tracing missing UK legatees. They argue that solicitors and lay clients want the certainty that fixed fees give. We wouldn’t disagree. But who really benefits from this? In most cases, we would argue, it’s the genealogist, not the estate.

What isn’t said is that the fixed fee model means that clients often pay more than they should.

Whisper it amongst yourselves, but it’s not always that difficult to find a single missing legatee if there’s a last known address or some other identifying information. In these situations, a person can often be found well within the agreed budget and we don’t think it’s fair that you should pay the full price when that happens.

We have a fantastic track record in tracing missing legatees and we’re confident enough to say “yes, we will find your beneficiary”. If we can’t, we won’t charge you a penny. But, more than that, if we find them quickly and easily, we’ll only charge you for the work done, rather than a fixed fee agreed at the outset.

We offer the best of both worlds

1. Our fees are capped so you know at the outset the maximum amount you’ll pay.

2. If we find the legatee for less than the budget we’ll only charge you for the work done.

Add to that the fact that our initial fee suggestions are less than half those of some of our competitors, and we hope you’ll agree ours is a service which is hard to better.

Flexibility, fairness and price. Why instruct anyone else?