Family and property law in plain English, with the fee agreed before the work begins.

“They told me what it would cost before they told me what they would do — and then they did exactly that.”
Sample client quotePurchase of a terraced house, Widcombe, 2025

Latest

Three notes

Stamp duty for first-time buyers: the threshold, the traps, the timing

Where the relief starts and stops, and why the completion date matters more than the day your offer is accepted.

Read the note

Relief is decided on the day you complete, not the day your offer is accepted. If the thresholds move between the two, the bill moves with them. They last moved in April 2025, and several buyers who exchanged in March paid more than they had budgeted.

Both buyers must qualify. If one of you has ever owned property anywhere in the world — including a share of an inherited flat — the relief is lost for the whole purchase, not half of it.

We calculate the duty in writing when we quote, and again on the morning of exchange. If the figure changes, you hear it from us before you hear it from the lender.

General information, not advice. The figures that apply to you depend on your circumstances and the date you complete.

No-fault divorce in practice: what the twenty-week wait is actually for

Four years in, the process is calmer than most people expect. Here is how we use the waiting period.

Read the note

Since April 2022 nobody has had to prove the other person did anything wrong. You apply alone or together, and the law imposes a twenty-week pause before the conditional order can be made.

That pause is not dead time. It is when financial disclosure happens, when arrangements for the children are written down, and when most of our clients agree a consent order so that the final order closes everything at once.

Start to finish, the process takes six to eight months. We give you a dated calendar on the first day and update it each time the court does something.

General information, not advice.

The leasehold questions we are asked most, answered on one page

Ground rent, service charges, extending a lease, and when buying the freehold is worth the trouble.

Read the note

Ground rent: check whether it doubles, and how often. A rent that doubles every ten years can make a flat hard to mortgage and harder to sell. Service charges: ask for three years of accounts, not one.

Extending the lease: once a lease falls below eighty years the premium rises sharply. If you are buying with fewer than eighty-five years left, we raise it before exchange, not after.

Buying the freehold: usually worth it in a small building where the neighbours agree. We will tell you plainly when it is not.

General information, not advice.

A stack of cream paper on a dark desk with a black fountain pen and an open bottle of dark green ink.
Plate IThe quoting desk at Wren Street. Every fee is written down before the file is opened.

Practice areas

Six, with fees from
  • Divorce & separation from £1,800 Fixed-fee applications, orderly disclosure, and a clear route to a final order.
  • Arrangements for children from £1,500 Where the children live, when they see each parent, and how schooling and travel are decided.
  • Financial settlements from £2,400 Pensions, the house, and what a fair split looks like on paper before a judge ever sees it.
  • Buying a home from £1,150 Searches, enquiries, exchange and completion, with the same named lawyer on the file throughout.
  • Selling or remortgaging from £650 Contract packs issued within five working days of instruction. Redemption figures checked twice.
  • Wills & powers of attorney from £350 Straightforward wills, trusts for the family home, and lasting powers registered properly the first time.

Not listed?Commercial leases, probate and boundary disputes are handled by two firms we trust and will name for you. We would rather send you on than do it half well. Ask.

Index

Everything on this page
  1. 01LatestNotes on the law as it changes, in plain words
  2. 02Practice areasSix things we do, each with a fee from
  3. 03PeopleThree lawyers, no photographs
  4. 04FeesThe whole table, with what is and is not included
  5. 05ContactAddress, hours, and a form for a first conversation
  6. 06NoticesRegulation, complaints, and how we handle your data
  7. 07Write to ushello@asterandcole.example — answered within one working day
03 — People Named lawyer on every file

Three lawyers. No photographs; you will meet us soon enough.

Each matter is run start to finish by the person you first speak to. Nobody is handed to a junior after the first meeting.

Eleanor Aster

Partner · FamilyAdmitted 2003

Eleanor has led the family team since the firm opened on Wren Street. She is a trained collaborative lawyer and an accredited mediator, and most of her cases settle without a contested hearing. She writes the calendar every divorce client receives on day one.

Email Eleanor01632 960 118

Thomas Cole

Partner · PropertyAdmitted 2006

Thomas handles residential purchases, sales, remortgages and leasehold work. He answers his own telephone, reads every contract pack himself, and is the reason the firm quotes stamp duty twice. He has never had a completion fall through on a Friday.

Email Thomas01632 960 119

Priya Raman

Associate · Family & PropertyAdmitted 2017

Priya joined from a larger regional firm and works across both teams, most often on the property side of a separation — transfers of equity, the sale of the family home, and the paperwork that keeps a lender calm while the rest is settled.

Email Priya01632 960 120
04 — Fees Published in full, reviewed each January

Every figure we quote, in one table. Nothing is charged that was not on it.

Fixed fees are fixed. Where a fee is “from”, the written quote you receive before instructing us is the number you pay, unless the matter changes shape and we agree a new figure with you first.

All fees exclude VAT at 20% and third-party costs (disbursements), which are listed separately on every quote.
Matter What is included Fee Usual timeframe
Purchase of a freehold home Searches, enquiries, report on title, exchange, completion, stamp duty return, Land Registry application. from £1,150 8–12 weeks
Purchase of a leasehold flat As above, plus lease review, management pack, notice to the freeholder. from £1,450 10–14 weeks
Sale of a home Contract pack within five working days, replies to enquiries, redemption of any mortgage, transfer of proceeds. from £950 8–12 weeks
Remortgage Title check, lender requirements, redemption, registration of the new charge. from £650 3–5 weeks
Divorce application (uncontested) Application, service, conditional order, final order, and a dated calendar of the whole process. £1,800 fixed 6–8 months
Financial settlement by consent Disclosure, negotiation, drafting and filing of the consent order. from £2,400 3–6 months
Arrangements for children First meeting, mediation referral, drafting of the agreed plan; court applications quoted separately. from £1,500 Varies
Will (single person) Meeting, drafting, signing supervised in the office, storage for as long as you like. £350 fixed 2–3 weeks
Lasting power of attorney (each) Drafting, certificate provider, registration with the Office of the Public Guardian. £450 fixed 12–16 weeks
Hourly rates, where they apply
Partner
£260 / hour
Associate
£195 / hour
Trainee
£120 / hour
Typical disbursements
Local, water & environmental searches
about £320
Land Registry fee
£20 – £500
Court fee for a divorce application
£593
How billing works

You receive a written quote before we open a file, a note when we reach the halfway point of the estimate, and an invoice that matches the quote. If a matter changes shape, we stop and agree a new figure with you before continuing.

05 — Contact First conversations are free, and last twenty minutes

Ring, write, or use the form. Someone who can actually help will call you back.

The first call is with a lawyer, not a receptionist. Tell us the shape of the matter and we will tell you what it is likely to cost and how long it will take.

Address
Aster & Cole
18 Wren Street
Bath BA1 5LPGround floor, step-free from the street. Two minutes from the bus station.
Telephone
01632 960 118Answered by a person, 9:00 – 17:30
Email
hello@asterandcole.exampleReplies within one working day
Hours
Monday to Friday, 9:00 – 17:30Saturday mornings by appointment. Evening calls by arrangement.
Parking
Two spaces behind the buildingAsk when you book and we will hold one for you.
A dark green front door in a pale limestone Georgian terrace, with a brass knocker and two stone steps.
Plate II18 Wren Street. The green door; ring once and come in.

We read this ourselves. Nothing you write here creates a solicitor–client relationship until we have checked for conflicts and you have a written quote.

  1. 01We ring you back within one working day, from a number you can save.
  2. 02Twenty minutes with a lawyer, free. You tell us what is happening; we tell you what it usually costs and how long it takes.
  3. 03A written quote the same day — or, if we are not the right firm, the name of someone who is.