Supreme Court ruling provides ‘clear guidance’ in costs recovery in inheritance claims | Law Gazette
What the Supreme Court's decision means in practice
If your solicitors are acting on a "no win, no fee" basis in a claim under the Inheritance Act 1975, the "success fee" element of their charges will not form part of the calculation of your financial needs.
So, for a worked example let's assume that -
- The financial provision that you "need" is calculated at £100,000 and
- The success fee element of your solicitors' charges is £20,000
The decision means that rather than you being awarded £120,000 (so you that you receive the £100,000 that you need after your solicitors take their success fee of £20,000) you will receive £80,000. The solicitors' success fee will be taken out of the £100,000, so yu will end up with less than you need.
This reinforces how important it is, firstly to shop around for the best deal (because not all "no win, no fee" agreements are equal - some can be much more expensive than others) and secondly to make sure that you check your solicitors' charges, including the success fee, at the end of the case.