How to Instruct Us
Tax On Divorce » November 5, 2021
We are able to receive instructions from solicitors, accountants and direct clients.
Enquiries and instructions are received by our Practice Manager, Carey Vigor, who is committed to providing an exceptional level of service and can assist with any potential instructions or enquiries. Carey can help guide clients and solicitors on suitability of instructions, turnaround times, fee estimates and general process.
Please find below a summary of the process when instructing us on a single or joint basis, either through solicitors or by direct instruction from the parties themselves.
Stage 1
Option A
If you wish to telephone us to discuss your case informally, we offer a complimentary 20-minute call with Sofia Thomas to discuss your query, who can then advise it if it necessary for further advice to be obtained and a fee estimate for the advice, if required. However, please note we are not able to provide you with any advice on this call.
Option B
We offer a one-hour virtual meeting for a fixed fee of £550 plus VAT during which Sofia will be able to discuss the matter with you and also provide you with specific tax advice. The call will be attended by Sofia together with our Administrator, and a copy of our attendance note will be sent to you following the meeting. Please note we will require a signed Letter of Engagement, identification documentation and payment prior to the scheduled call.
Option C
You can email us with some information of your case and we can at that stage either provide you with a fee estimate for the advice, or some basic information to enable us to provide you with a fee estimate, turnaround time, together with a list of information we will require to provide our advice.
To enable us to provide you with a fee estimate, we usually require the following information:-
- Date of separation;
- Confirmation as to whether either party is a UK resident;
- Confirmation as to whether either party is a US citizen or Green Card Holder;
- Approximate current value of the assets to be advised upon;
- Annual earnings of both parties;
General comment
If you are planning to instruct us on a joint basis, we would recommend that written instructions are sent to us initially as we would not be permitted to have separate discussions with either party.
Stage 2
Send a Letter of Instruction to us setting out the issues upon which you require advice, the questions which you require answers to, and information regarding the assets which you require advice on (a list of requested information may have already been provided to you). The letter of instruction should also set out whether the instruction is to be on a single or joint basis.
We can provide a sample draft letter of instruction so please email us at family@junotax.co.uk to request this, if required.
Stage 3
We will respond to your Letter of Instruction confirming the matters to be covered in the report, our fee estimate and expected turnaround time.
Stage 4
If our fee estimate is approved and the parties wish to proceed, we will start our onboarding process and send the following:-
Direct client instruction
- Letter of Engagement and Terms and Conditions of Business (for direct clients) – to be signed and returned electronically (we currently use AdobeSign);
- Identification documentation:
- Copy of your passport or photocard driving licence;
- Copy of a utility bill or bank statement confirming your current address (dated within the last three months);
- Payment on account of 50% of the fee estimate (this can be shared between the parties so each provide 25%). The final invoice will be issued upon completion of the report.
Instruction via solicitors
- Terms and Conditions of Business (for solicitors) – to be signed and returned.
Stage 5
Once we have completed the onboarding process, we will then review the information provided and request any further or outstanding information required to enable us to prepare our report.
We will send our completed report to the instructing parties upon completion together with our invoice. Our invoice is to be settled within seven days.
In accordance with our terms, either party has 30 days from receipt of our report to raise questions on the advice contained in the report. After 30 days, any questions raised will be treated as a new instruction and a new fee estimate will need to be requested for such work.
Any questions
If you have any questions regarding how to instruct us, please contact our Practice Manager, Carey Vigor, who will be more than happy to assist. She can be contacted at carey@junotax.co.uk.