Debt recovery
The published scale covers debts up to £100,000 where the debt is not disputed. Where a debtor defends the claim on genuine grounds, the matter stops being routine and is quoted separately.
Debt recovery is priced in both currencies. A UK matter runs at £75 and 15%; an EU matter handled through the Lithuanian practice runs at €75 and 15% on the same terms. Court fees and enforcement steps below are English and are quoted in sterling only.
- Letter before action, drafted and served
- £75 / €75
- Debt more than 180 days overdue
- +5%
- County court claim, £1,000–£3,000
- £215
- Defended claim under £5,000
- £495
- Correspondence fee, where the debtor contacts me directly
- £25
Plus 15% of sums recovered
Added to the success fee
Fixed, plus court fee
Fixed, hearings charged separately
May be charged
Including VAT. Court fees and disbursements are additional, set by HMCTS, and normally recoverable from the debtor on a successful claim.
Statutory demands and insolvency
- Statutory demand against an individual
- £250
- Statutory demand against a company
- £350
- Responding to a set-aside application
- On quote
Fixed, including service
Fixed, including service
Written estimate first
Including VAT. A statutory demand is not a court process, so there is no court fee at this stage. Petition fees, the official receiver's deposit and Gazette advertising arise only if you go on to petition.
Enforcing a judgment
A judgment is permission to enforce, not payment. Which method is worth using depends entirely on what the debtor has, which is why the first item below is usually the cheapest thing you can buy.
- Order to obtain information about the debtor
- £225
- Warrant of control to bailiffs
- £80
- Attachment of earnings, without representation
- £100
- Third party debt order
- £225
- Obtaining and registering a charging order
- £295
- Removing a charging order
- £195
Fixed, plus court fee
Fixed, plus court fee
Fixed
Fixed, plus court fee
Fixed, plus disbursements
Fixed
Including VAT, plus the relevant court fee. Enforcement costs are generally added to the judgment debt and recoverable from the debtor, which only helps if there is something to recover from.
Everything else
Immigration, family, private client and cross-border commercial work is quoted matter by matter. That is not evasion. An agreed divorce settlement and a contested financial remedy are not comparable pieces of work, and publishing one figure for both would be misleading rather than transparent.
- Standard hourly rate
- €300 / £255
- The rate that applies to your matter
- Confirmed in writing
Including VAT
In the engagement letter, before work starts
The hourly rate, for work that cannot sensibly be fixed-fee. Including VAT. The rate varies with the nature and complexity of the matter, and the rate that applies to yours is set in the engagement letter before any work begins.
Time is recorded as work is done, and routine letters, emails and calls may be charged as six-minute units. Detailed time records are available on request. Where an hourly rate changes, you get at least 30 days' notice and may end the engagement instead of accepting it.
Fixed fee, published
- Letter before action and debt recovery
- Undisputed county court claims
- Statutory demands
- Enforcement steps
- Discrete pieces of drafting
Written estimate first
- Contested litigation of any kind
- Divorce and financial remedy work
- Probate and cross-border succession
- Immigration applications and appeals
- Commercial disputes spanning both countries
How the work is charged
- 01Free
You describe what happened
By email, in English, Lithuanian or Russian. There is no charge for this and no consultation fee to establish whether you have a matter I can take.
- 02Before instruction
I tell you the fee before starting
A fixed fee where one is published or can be given, a written estimate where it cannot. Either way in writing, and either way before any billable work happens.
- 03Throughout
You are told when the estimate changes
Matters develop. If something happens that moves the cost materially, you hear about it when it happens rather than on the invoice.
- 04Always
The same solicitor does the work
Your matter is not passed to someone you have not spoken to. The person who reads your first email is the person who writes the letter and argues the case.
How long things take
Letter before action
Drafted and served within two working days
Then the statutory waiting period: 30 days and three enclosures for an individual debtor under the Pre-Action Protocol, 14 days for a straightforward business-to-business debt.
Undefended county court claim
Typically 8 to 12 weeks to judgment
Assuming the debtor does not respond. HMCTS timetables vary by court and this is outside anyone's control.
Statutory demand
21 days from service
Then a petition becomes available. Individuals have 18 days from service to apply to set the demand aside, which is a shorter window than the payment period.
Enforcement
Weeks to months, depending on method
A charging order secures the debt but is generally paid on sale rather than immediately. Attachment of earnings is steady rather than fast.
Who does the work
All fee-earning work is carried out by Vincentas Zabulis, a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales admitted in 2019, SRA No. 621485, and an advocate registered with the Lithuanian Bar since 2014. LL.M from University College London. The practice is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under SRA No. 666548.
Common questions
Do these prices include VAT?
Yes. Every figure on this page is the amount you pay, inclusive of VAT at the current rate. Court fees and other disbursements sit outside that and are listed separately in any estimate.
What does a letter before action cost?
£75 including VAT to draft and serve it, plus 15% of whatever is actually recovered. Where the debt is more than 180 days overdue the success element is 20%. The £75 is payable whether or not recovery follows.
Are court fees included?
No. Court fees are set by HM Courts and Tribunals Service and scale with the amount claimed. They are paid to the court rather than to me, they are not marked up, and on a successful claim they are normally recoverable from the debtor.
What is your hourly rate?
€300 an hour, or £255 where a matter is billed in sterling, including VAT. The rate varies with the nature and complexity of the work, and the rate that applies to your matter is confirmed in the engagement letter before anything starts. A great deal of the work on this page is fixed-fee instead, in which case no hourly rate applies at all.
Do you charge in euros or pounds?
Either. Debt recovery is published in both: £75 and 15% for a UK matter, €75 and 15% for an EU matter handled through the Lithuanian practice. The currency your matter is billed in is set in the engagement letter, and English court fees are always sterling because that is what the court charges.
Do you charge for an initial conversation?
No. Establishing whether you have a matter I can take, and roughly what it would cost, is not billable work and is not treated as if it were. If I cannot help I will say so quickly.
What happens if the estimate turns out to be too low?
You are told when it happens, not when the invoice arrives. Matters develop in ways nobody predicts, and an estimate that quietly doubles is worse than no estimate at all.
Is any part of the fee conditional on success?
On debt recovery, yes in part: the 15% is charged only on money actually collected, so if nothing is recovered nothing is charged on that element. The £75 for the letter before action is payable regardless. I would rather set that out accurately than describe the arrangement as carrying no cost, because it does.
Can you work on a fixed fee for a Lithuanian matter?
Often, yes. Discrete steps such as accepting an inheritance, registering title or serving a demand can usually be fixed. Contested work in either country is quoted with a written estimate first.
This page states the law of England & Wales as at 18 August 2026. It is general information, not advice on your matter, and reading it does not create a solicitor-client relationship.