We offer a free initial interview and assessment of your case. We offer flexible funding arrangements to suit your circumstances.

If your case is successful the majority of your legal costs will be paid by the Defendants.

Anyone thinking about taking a legal case will be worried about what it will cost and whether they can afford it.

At Parlett Kent we discuss this issue with you right at the beginning to make sure that you have full information and a realistic view of how your case will be funded. We will talk to you when you first contact us about this and will give you clear advice at the beginning of your first interview so that you do not find yourself facing hidden charges.

There are several possible ways of funding your case:

Legal expenses insurance on an existing insurance policy
Also known as BTE (before the event) cover.

You may have legal expenses cover for yourself and your family on your household insurance, on your car insurance on your credit card or in some other way. This may cover general legal claims or be specific to a particular sort of claim eg road traffic accidents on your car insurance. We will ask you to check any policies you have and to bring them with you to your first interview.

This insurance may cover all your costs if the case can be resolved at an early stage. It will probably not be sufficient to pay for your full costs liability in a contested or complicated case but will cover the costs of investigation and advice on the prospects of success of your case.

Legal aid
You may be eligible for legal aid if

1. The monthly gross income of you and your partner does not exceed £2288
2. You do not have more than £8000 in savings, possessions or property which is not your main home
3. The net equity in your main home is no more than £100,000. This is calculated by deducting your outstanding mortgage or £100,000, whichever is the less, from the current market value of your house. If the result is £100,000 or less then you may be eligible for legal aid.

If you want to make a claim on behalf of your child, the Legal Services Commission will look at his/her income and capital, not yours. Therefore even if you are not eligible for legal aid, your child is likely to be eligible.

Conditional fee (no win no fee) agreements

We offer conditional fee agreements to our clients in suitable cases. These are agreements between solicitor and client under which the solicitor agrees not to be paid at all from the date of the agreement if the case is unsuccessful. If the case is successful then the solicitor is entitled to charge a success fee which is a percentage fee on top of basic costs and which will be paid by the opponent, not the client.

We will need to carry out an investigation of your case, which will involve obtaining your medical records and at least one medical report, before offering you a conditional fee agreement. We have to do this to be able to assess the risk to ourselves of not being successful and therefore not being paid at the end of the case. It also ensures you have a realistic view of the prospects of success. We will discuss with you when we meet you what the likely cost of this investigation is and how it is to be funded.

Once we are in a position to carry out a risk assessment we will tell you whether the firm is willing to enter in to a conditional fee agreement with you. You will still need to pay the fees to experts and counsel and other expenses such as court fees and fees for obtaining medical records.

After the event insurance (ATE)

If the case is not settled at an early stage and has to go to court we will advise you to take out insurance to cover the costs of paying the fees and expenses above and also your opponent's fees if the case is wholly or partly unsuccessful.

The premiums for these policies are high. They are recoverable from your opponent if you are successful and repayable by the insurer if the case is unsuccessful. We can help you to obtain quotations for such insurance from companies providing such cover, some of whom offer deferred premium and disbursement payment schemes. The deferred premium means that you do not have to fund from the outset high premiums.

Private funding

We can act for you on a private basis and will advise you of our hourly charging rates for such work. We will need to discuss with you the prospects of success of your case and the risk that you may be liable for not only our own but your opponent's legal costs if the case is unsuccessful.