Most firms make you book a meeting to learn what anything costs. Ours is published, complete, and current, and you can build your own itemized estimate from it right here. If a figure needs to change for your matter, you hear the reason before the work begins.
A.1 Your estimate, in writing
Choose your matter and answer a question or two. We draft the estimate from the schedule on this page, line by line, the way our bill would read, with every government charge kept apart from ours.
Marlowe & Fenn LLP
Barristers and Solicitors · 214 Dominion Avenue, Bellwood, BC V0G 1K0 · (250) 555-0184
Estimate of fees and charges
Buying a home
EST ____-____
Our fee
Our fee, flat
$1,200 to $1,500
Title review, lender documents, the statement of adjustments, registration, and completion.
GST 5% and PST 7% on our fee
$144 to $180
The federal Goods and Services Tax and British Columbia's sales tax. Both apply to legal fees in BC.
DisbursementsOut-of-pocket costs a lawyer pays on your behalf and passes on at cost: registry fees, searches, courier.They are not the lawyer's fee. We list them before you sign anything and show each one on the bill.Every term, defined
Title and plan searches
$35
Pulled from the Land Title Office at the start and again before completion.
Registering the transfer
$87.37
The Land Title Office's filing fee plus its electronic transaction charge.
Registering the mortgage
$87.37
The same filing fee again, for the lender's charge.
Property tax certificate
$50
Confirms the seller's taxes are paid. Priced by the municipality, about this.
Title insurance
$200 to $350
Usually required by the lender. The premium depends on the price and the insurer.
Courier and trust wire fees
$60
Moving documents and money on completion day.
Payable to Marlowe & Fenn
$1,863.74 to $2,349.74
Our fee, the taxes on it, and the disbursements: everything that would appear on our bill.
Paid to government, through us
Property transfer tax
$11,000
Provincial tax on the purchase: 1% of the first $200,000, 2% up to $2 million, 3% above that. Paid through us on completion.
Government charges, total
$11,000
Collected from you and paid straight to the government on your behalf. None of it is ours.
All in
$12,863.74 to $13,349.74
Our bill and the government charges together: the whole cost of the matter as we can see it today.
Buying a home: all in, $12,863.74 to $13,349.74.
An estimate is a range. Your own figure goes in writing at the first meeting, before any work begins.
One number for the whole job, agreed before it starts. Where a range appears, the difference is complexity, and you get the exact figure in writing at the first meeting.
Residential purchase
$1,200 to $1,500
Plus disbursements and taxes. We list them before you sign anything.
Residential sale
$950 to $1,250
Discharge of one mortgage included.
Refinance
$900 to $1,150
One lender, one title.
Simple will
$650
One person, straightforward estate.
Mirror wills, couple
$975
Two wills that echo each other.
Will, power of attorney, representation agreementper person
$1,350
The full set, done once, done properly.
Incorporation of a BC company
$1,100
Plus government filing fees, stated up front.
Severance package review
$900
A written opinion on what you are actually owed.
Figures on this page sit perfectly still. They are promises, not fireworks.
A.3 Hourly rates, in full
Some matters cannot honestly be quoted flat: a dispute has two sides and only one of them is us. For those, the rates, billed in six-minute increments and itemized monthly:
Eleanor MarlowePartner
$385 / hour
Daniel FennPartner
$350 / hour
Priya SandhuPartner
$325 / hour
Kate MoreauAssociate
$295 / hour
Every estimate comes with the number of hours we expect and what would change it. Estimates are revisited with you, never silently exceeded.
Plate IIThe schedule, kept in ink
A.4 What a retainer really is
A.4.1
Retainer funds are held in trust and remain the property of the client until billed.
A retainer is a deposit, not a price. It stays your money until we earn it.
A.4.2
Fees are drawn against the retainer only upon delivery of an itemized statement of account.
Every month you see exactly what was done, by whom, for how long, and what it cost.
A.4.3
Any unexpended balance is returned to the client upon conclusion of the matter.
If the work costs less than the deposit, the difference comes back to you. Always.
Let an estimate change without explaining why, in writing, before more work happens.
A.5.3
Charge for the fifteen-minute call that tells you whether you need us at all.
A.6 Questions people actually ask
Why do you publish your fees when other firms will not?
Because the silence is the problem. People delay wills, conveyances, and severance reviews for years because nobody will name a price. Publishing the schedule costs us nothing but negotiating room, and we were never going to bill you more than the page says anyway.
What are disbursements?
Actual out-of-pocket costs that belong to your matter: land title registration fees, court filing fees, couriers, searches. They are listed for you before you commit, passed through at cost, and itemized on every statement.
Do prices on this page ever change?
Yes, the schedule is reviewed each January. But the figure quoted for your matter is fixed in writing at the first meeting, and a mid-matter change to the schedule never touches an existing file.
The number comes first
Book a consultation and leave with your fee in writing, or call (250) 555-0184 and ask us to say a price out loud. We will.
