Human Law

1. Status and Regulation

Human Law is the trading name of Justin Patten, an independent sole practitioner solicitor authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA Number: 657838). These terms apply to all out-of-court dispute diagnostics, statutory milestone enforcement, and dispute stabilisation services delivered by Human Law.

2. Our Out-of-Court Operating Architecture

Human Law operates strictly as an out-of-court dispute resolution practice. We are retained for finite, fixed-fee procedural milestones and strategic statutory levers to clear estate deadlocks without litigation drift. The absolute boundaries of our services include the following strict rules:

• No Conduct of Litigation: We do not act as your solicitor on record in court proceedings. We do not conduct contested Part 7 or Part 57 court trials. If a contested trial becomes unavoidable, your file is transferred cleanly to a litigation partner with the evidential audit already complete.
• No Acceptance of Court Service: We do not accept formal court service on your behalf. Formal court process must continue to be served directly on you or your designated litigation record solicitors.
• No Routine Probate Administration or Conveyancing: We do not process uncontested probate grant applications, asset collections, or property conveyancing. Our service clears contentious bottlenecks and returns the stable file to your team or transactional probate solicitors.
• No Detailed Forensic Accounting: We do not perform line-by-line historic bank tracing or forensic book reconciliations.

3. Fixed-Fee Procedural Milestone Charging Structure

We operate on 100% fixed milestone fees with zero hourly billing. Clients fund strictly the procedural milestone confirmed necessary by their diagnostic audit:

• Entry Portal — Estate Deadlock Scan: Free preliminary online diagnostic scan. Completing the scan does not establish a formal solicitor-client retainer.
• Stage 01 — Factual Audit & Consultation (£400 + VAT): 30-minute solicitor consultation + 2-page written assessment isolating the bottleneck and confirming the statutory off-ramp. 100% of the £400 fee rolls forward into subsequent execution milestones if instructed within 14 days.
• Zone 1 — Caveat Resolution Ladder (£1,450–£3,850 + VAT): A linear fixed-fee ladder for estates blocked prior to the Grant:
  • Milestone 1 (Warning Launch): £1,450 + VAT — Form 4 Warning drafting, registry lodgment, service, and 14-day statutory countdown management.
  • Milestone 2 (Appearance Triage): £2,850 + VAT — Grounds review, capacity triage, and settlement deed drafting if Form 5 is entered.
  • Milestone 3 (Registry Summons Pack): £3,850 + VAT — NCPR r.44(13) summons drafting for summary disposal on paper before the Registrar.
  • Milestone 4 (Registrar Listing Unit): £1,500 + VAT — Used only where the Registrar requires an oral appointment to extract the vacating order.
• Zone 2 — Deadlock Resolution Tracks (£1,150–£5,500 + VAT): Modular tracks for pre- and post-grant standoffs, including co-executor inaction (Citations to Take Probate), beneficiary accounting demands (Section 25 AEA protocols/summonses), and out-of-court settlement deeds.
• Structural Clarity Report™ (£2,500–£4,500 + VAT): Behind-the-scenes wholesale forensic strategy blueprint for corporate trustees, IFAs, and private client teams.
• £0/Month Dormancy Shield: No ongoing retainers or billing during Probate Registry delays, medical record extraction, or third-party silence.
• Fiduciary Expense Alignment: All milestone actions are itemised as legitimate estate administration expenses under Section 31(1) of the Trustee Act 2000.

All fixed milestone fees must be settled in full prior to the deployment of work within that respective milestone block. VAT is charged at the prevailing UK statutory rate.

4. Document Ingestion Rules & Diagnostic Scope

To maintain fixed-fee certainty and rapid turnarounds, Stage 01 reviews core primary documents (up to 20 pages). A primary document is an operative legal or factual record that directly defines or blocks the estate administration:

5. Termination and Milestone Boundaries

Because our work is strictly modular, either party may conclude the engagement at the completion of any paid milestone. Human Law reserves the right to decline progression to a subsequent milestone if our diagnostic audit reveals that the file requires contested court trial representation.

6. Client Responsibilities

Clients retain operational authority as Personal Representatives or fiduciaries. You must ensure all factual disclosures provided via our intake portals are accurate and complete. Following procedural unblocking, clients or their transactional lawyers remain responsible for ongoing probate asset collection, accounting distributions, and conveyancing.

7. Complaints, Data Protection & Regulatory Compliance

Human Law is committed to high professional standards. If you are dissatisfied with our service, please raise your concerns under our internal complaints procedure. If a complaint remains unresolved after eight weeks, you have the right to escalate the matter to the independent Legal Ombudsman.

Full disclosures regarding data protection compliance under UK GDPR and professional indemnity insurance (PII) coverage are detailed on our Regulatory Notice Page.

8. Governing Law

These terms and all engagements with Human Law are governed exclusively by the laws of England and Wales, subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.