Frequently Asked Questions

Always Here To Help You

We’ve listed below some of the common questions we are asked about our business and our services. 

We are always on hand to help and answer your queries and whether you visit our office, send us a message or simply pick up the phone you’ll always speak to someone considerate and understanding to your situation.

Speak to us today on: 01274 404010

SBG Law FAQs

Yes. We are based in Great Horton, 10 minutes’ drive from the Bradford city centre and 10 minutes from the M606. We are on bus routes 576, 614 and near bus routes 640 and 641. All the taxi firms know us.

Check out our contact page for a map of our location.

Yes. We’re only 10 minutes from the city centre, but unlike city centre firms, we have ample free on street parking right next to our office.

Yes. We often get asked to take over cases when clients are not satisfied with the service they are getting from current advisers. We know from experience that people choose lawyers for all sorts of reasons, and sometimes regret their choice – but a lot of our clients are referred from our existing clients or contacts because they know how good we are.

Whether we will take over a case that has already started depends on many factors, but the main question we ask ourselves is: is there enough time left in the case for us to use our expertise and experience to make a difference?

The best thing to do is have a no obligation chat with one of our solicitors.

We pride ourselves on personal service – on your lawyer knowing you and your case. We know that our clients value this.

When we assess your case at the start, we match you to the right lawyer.

Yes. We try to be flexible and will work with you to make sure we can have the right discussions at the right time. This might involve seeing you out of office hours, out of the office or by remote meetings. We are all getting more used to remote meetings since Covid 19.

Yes – and we have access to interpreters in nearly all languages if needed.

Yes. Especially since Covid 19, we are all becoming experts at remote meetings eg by Skype, Teams, Zoom and telephone.

SBG Law Fees

We offer a range of solutions to funding legal services, depending on the type of case. We will discuss the funding options available for your case at the outset, including estimated costs and whether fixed fees or instalment arrangements are available.

The usual method of charging in Family, Litigation and Commercial work is based on hourly rates, which are set according to the experience of the person or people dealing with the case. 

However, in some types of cases we may be able to offer a fixed fee, or fixed fees in relation to certain stages of the case.

We also offer No Win/No Fee arrangements in some types of cases.

In Employment Tribunal cases, we may be able to carry out your work under a Contingency Fee Agreement.

Some household or other Insurance policies may include cover for Legal Expenses and in some situations we can arrange a special insurance policy (After the Event Insurance) to cover your legal costs.

Legal Aid is available, subject to financial and merits criteria set by the Legal Aid Agency, in some cases, for example some Family, Debt and Housing cases.

Contact us to discuss the funding options in your case.

Details of fees in some specific types of work are set out below.

Please see links below to the relevant fees page:

Probate Fees | Conveyancing Fees | Tribunal Fees | Debt Fees

The simple answer is: yes, in most cases. We listen to you, take on board your circumstances and work out payment arrangements with you.

Yes. Although the government withdrew a lot of Legal Aid funding a few years ago, we can still offer Legal Aid for many types of cases, especially Housing, Debt and Family cases. To find out if you can apply for Legal Aid, contact us for a free, no obligation chat with one of our solicitors.

Yes, in suitable cases. Speak to one of our solicitors, with no obligation, and they will advise you.

Common Legal Questions

Tenants have a lot of protection under the current law – but it’s complicated and you need to know the law. That’s where we come in. Get in touch and we will advise you. We will also tell you if you can get Legal Aid.

Our office used to be a bank, which means we have a purpose built fire proof bank vault on site. That’s where we keep our clients’ Wills.

Grandparents do not have any automatic rights in relation to their grandchildren however the law does recognise the benefit to children in having a relationship with their extended family. In most cases the court will look favourably on applications made by grandparents for contact.

It used to take between 5 and 6 months to obtain a divorce, if there were no financial matters to deal with. Following cost cutting measures by the Court Service, including reducing the number of Courts which deal with divorces, it now takes a little longer. If there are financial matters to resolve we may advise you to wait until we have a financial order before finalising the divorce – but in the end it is up to you.

It is possible to apply for a Forced Marriage Protection Order. This is an order that will forbid anyone from arranging or entering into a contract of marriage for you. The order can also forbid anyone from removing you from the country, from threatening you or from contacting you. It is important to obtain immediate protection if you believe that your family may plan to do this, and also for you to remove yourself to somewhere safe. Please contact us for urgent advice and protection.

We can assist you in the following ways:

  • We listen to your concerns; we can then provide you with positive options and advise you to enable you to make informed decisions.
  • We can obtain occupation orders excluding a violent partner from the home.
  • We can obtain non molestation orders to prohibit a harassing or violent partner from acting in this way.
  • We can advise on maintenance for you and/or the children
  • We can provide information booklets about parenting plans and helping children come to terms with their parents’ separation.
  • We can obtain court orders to prevent the children being taken away from one parent, to regulate contact, and to determine where the children live.
  • We can contact local refuges to find urgent accommodation.
  • We can advise on housing that is available and provide letters in support of any applications.

You should:

  • secure the children’s passports and not allow any unsupervised contact with the children
  • get urgent legal advice
  • you may be able to apply for a Prohibited Steps Order prohibiting the removal of the children from your care and from the country
  • you may need to ask the police to put out a ‘Port Alert’
  • if your children are already in the care of your partner you may need to apply for an order for them to be located and returned to you.

Sounds straight forward? The simple answer is that if your marriage was registered in this country at a register office or other place registered for marriages, you are legally married. But a lot of people have religious marriages, or marriages abroad, and then the answer is: it depends. The rules are complicated and even some lawyers misunderstand them. Plus the law is developing. We have come across many cases in the past where clients have been wrongly advised and have found to their shock that they aren’t treated by the law as married when they though they would be. It’s important. It can affect all sorts of things, including whether you can remarry, whether you can get a spouse visa, whether you can claim your partner’s assets if the relationship breaks down, whether you inherit from your partner. We have decades of experience and will give you the right advice.

No. There is no such thing. A lot of people believe they acquire the same rights as married people if they live together in a stable relationship, or under a religious-only marriage. This is not the case.

We can’t answer that! You need to know you’re compatible…and that’s a question the law can’t answer. But: if you want the law to give you the benefit of being married, you should get married. We strongly encourage it, so that you can have the security that the law gives married couples. We support the campaign to change the law to allow all religious marriages to be recognised and for people to register their marriages. https://registerourmarriage.org/ The same applies with civil partnerships.

Please view our Property & Conveyancing Services page for more detailed information.