What is a Disbursement?

What is a disbursement?

When we write to you the first time we set out lots of information about your matter. One of the things we explain is what a disbursement is.

Most legal matters will incur disbursements, so it is important to explain why we charge them and what they are.

A ‘disbursement’ is an expenditure incurred which is necessary to progress the matter on which you instructed us. Court Fees, Search Fees and Land Registry fees are examples of disbursements.

We try to inform you in advance of the disbursements you should expect to pay and why they are necessary. If there are any changes we keep you informed and explain why the change is necessary.

Disbursements are billed to you at cost (we do not add any further costs to them). Usually, disbursements once paid to the third party by us are non-refundable to our client.

Most disbursements are paid initially from our own bank account and we then request you to repay us. Sometimes we request that you pay a disbursement to us in advance of it being paid, for instance Court fees.

When you pay us for disbursements the funds are deposited in our client account and then transferred to our Firms bank account to reimburse us if we have paid initially for the disbursement. We won’t transfer a disbursement fee that you have paid us to our own account until we have actually paid for the disbursement on your behalf.

We account to you for the disbursement payments in our interim, final bills or in the case of a house purchase in the final completion statement.

Sometimes disbursements cost less or more than anticipated and if you have paid us in advance for the disbursement we will refund you as part of our final billing or request a balancing payment if they have cost more.

We will always be clear with you about the disbursements we pay on your behalf and their costs but if you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact the solicitor or lawyer named in your client care letter who is acting on your behalf.

For more information on disbursements, paying us and how we return funds to our clients please see our FAQ page

Our telephone number is : 0191 455361.