Services and fees
Fees are in US dollars and are fixed or staged. A fee marked "from" depends on the factors listed at the end of this page; you get a written quote before any work starts. Court fees, notary fees, translations, legalisation and travel outside Xiamen are charged at cost.
First steps
| Service | Fee |
|---|---|
| 60-minute inheritance consultation | USD 500 |
| 60-minute family consultation | USD 500 |
| Written inheritance assessment for heirs abroad | USD 1,950 |
| Family assets assessment | USD 1,950 |
| Assessment of a foreign divorce judgment | USD 1,250 |
| Urgent family assessment | from USD 2,500 |
| Ancestral, village or overseas-Chinese home: records check and written plan | USD 2,500 |
| Finding what an estate in China holds (property and bank accounts), per estate | from USD 2,500 |
More: Finding a parent's property and bank accounts in China
More: Court fee calculator
Inheritance for heirs abroad
| Service | Fee |
|---|---|
| Power of attorney and declarations for an heir abroad, bilingual, with the legalisation route (first heir) | USD 650 |
| Each further heir in the same matter | USD 250 |
| Handling the inheritance notarisation (one estate, up to three heirs) | from USD 3,500 |
| Each further heir in the notarisation | USD 500 |
| Registering an inherited property in the heir's name, per property | from USD 2,500 |
| Selling an inherited property and sending the money abroad, per property | from USD 3,500 |
| Inheriting bank deposits, per bank | from USD 2,500 |
| Inheriting shares in a company, per company | from USD 3,500 |
| From power of attorney to registration: one property, up to three heirs (the three items above added together) | from USD 6,650 |
More: How to inherit property in China when you live abroad
More: Documents an heir abroad needs
More: Giving up an inheritance in China from abroad
Wills and planning
| Service | Fee |
|---|---|
| Will for assets in China, bilingual | from USD 2,500 |
| Will review | from USD 1,250 |
| Attending the notarisation of a will (added to will drafting) | USD 950 |
| Voluntary guardianship agreement, bilingual | from USD 2,500 |
| Legacy-for-support agreement, bilingual | from USD 2,500 |
| Agreement on supporting parents in China, bilingual | from USD 2,500 |
| Acting as executor or estate administrator (larger estates or sales quoted separately) | from USD 7,500 |
More: Making a will for property in China
Marriage and divorce
| Service | Fee |
|---|---|
| Prenuptial or marital property agreement, bilingual | from USD 3,500 |
| Marital property agreement review | from USD 1,500 |
| Divorce agreement, bilingual | from USD 3,500 |
| Divorce agreement review | from USD 1,500 |
| Attending a divorce registration involving a foreign, Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan party | USD 950 |
| Child support and contact agreement, bilingual | from USD 2,500 |
| Child support agreement review | from USD 1,250 |
More: Large gifts of marital property: valid in China?
Court applications without a lawsuit
| Service | Fee |
|---|---|
| Applying to have a foreign divorce judgment recognised in China (assessment charged separately) | from USD 5,000 |
| Applying to have a Hong Kong family judgment recognised | from USD 5,000 |
| Applying to have a Taiwan court judgment recognised | from USD 5,000 |
| Applying to the court to appoint an estate administrator | from USD 7,500 |
| A parent who can no longer decide: applying for a capacity ruling and a guardian | from USD 7,500 |
| Declaring a relative missing or dead so an estate can be settled | from USD 7,500 |
| Personal safety protection order (domestic violence) | from USD 3,500 |
| Enforcing a judgment: seizing property, freezing accounts | from USD 7,500 |
Court cases
| Service | Fee |
|---|---|
| First instance, property in dispute up to USD 200,000: inheritance, partition of family property, divorce with property, property after divorce, cohabitants' property, relatives holding property for you, spouses' joint debts | from USD 20,000 |
| First instance, property in dispute USD 200,000 to 1 million (above that, quoted separately) | from USD 35,000 |
| First instance without a property dispute: divorce only, custody and contact, support of parents, parentage, annulment, betrothal gifts | from USD 12,500 |
| Appeal, cases involving property | from USD 15,000 |
| Appeal, cases without a property dispute | from USD 9,500 |
More: Court fee calculator
In China, lawyers may not take marriage or inheritance cases on a contingency basis, so court work is charged as a fixed or staged fee, paid in instalments.
What changes the fee
- How many heirs or parties there are, and how many countries they live in
- How many properties are involved, and whether they are outside Xiamen
- Missing papers: no title certificate, an old overseas-Chinese home, family ties that must be proved from scratch
- Whether a valuation or handwriting examination is needed
- Whether the other side lives abroad and must be served there
- How many hearings there are, and whether evidence must be gathered