What it costs
Most firms will not put this on a website. We think that is the wrong instinct — you should be able to work out roughly what you are in for before you pick up the phone.
Flat fees
These are the whole legal fee. Disbursements — the money we pay out on your behalf to registries, insurers and the court — are separate and listed further down.
- Residential purchasePlus disbursements and land transfer tax
- $1,350
- Residential salePlus disbursements
- $1,150
- Refinance / lender switchPlus disbursements
- $995
- Purchase and sale togetherSame closing week
- $2,200
- Title transfer between familyPlus land transfer tax if payable
- $795
- Single will + both powers of attorneyOne appointment, signed within a week
- $650
- Couple's mirror wills + POAsFor both people, all four documents
- $1,050
- Marriage or cohabitation agreementDepends on complexity of assets
- $2,400 – $3,800
- Independent legal advice on an agreementReviewing a draft you've been given
- from $850
Hourly rates
Family law is billed hourly because nobody can honestly quote a flat fee for a process whose length depends on someone else's behaviour. Time is recorded in tenths of an hour, and you get an itemised account every month whether or not there is anything to pay.
- Priya FellPartner, certified specialist in family law
- $475/hr
- Hugh RedpathPartner
- $450/hr
- Marguerite OseiAssociate; mediation billed at $325/hr, shared
- $375/hr
- Declan MbekiAssociate
- $340/hr
- Law clerksDocument preparation and filing
- $155/hr
What a retainer actually is
A retainer is not a fee. It is your money, held in a trust account that we are not allowed to touch except to pay an account you have already been sent. If your matter finishes with money left in trust, it comes back to you.
Our usual opening retainer on a family file is $3,500. On a litigated file it will be more, and we will tell you the number before you commit rather than after.
For flat-fee work — real estate, wills — there is no retainer. You pay on closing or on signing.
Typical disbursements
Money we pay out on your behalf. These are passed on at cost, not marked up.
- Title search and registration
- $180 – $260
- Title insurance (typical home)
- $275 – $500
- Software and closing charges
- $95
- Courier and registration fees
- $60 – $120
- Probate court filing
- $0 (tax is separate)
- Divorce application filing
- $669 (court fee)
Land transfer tax and Estate Administration Tax are government charges, not ours. On a $750,000 purchase in Barrie the provincial land transfer tax is about $11,475, and first-time buyers get up to $4,000 of that back.
Still not sure what your matter would cost?
Ring reception and describe it in two sentences. You will get a range and an honest view of whether you need us at all — from 4 lawyers who would rather turn work away than take a retainer for something not worth doing.