FamilyEstatesPropertySmall Business
A separation. A will you have been putting off. A first home. A company of your own. Halvorsen Grant is a two-partner Calgary firm that explains the law in plain English, quotes most work as a flat fee, and tells you the full cost before anything begins.
No. 1The Practice
A deliberately narrow docket, shared between two partners. If your matter belongs elsewhere — securities, criminal, immigration — we will say so in the first ten minutes and point you to someone good.
When a marriage or common-law relationship ends, four questions decide almost everything: where the children live, who supports whom, how property divides, and what gets written down. We answer them in that order, in language you can repeat at the dinner table. Court remains available if we need it; most of our clients never do.
Uncontested divorce from $2,400 flat. Agreements are usually flat-quoted after the first meeting. Contested matters run hourly at $385, with a written estimate at every stage — and your approval before the scope changes.
A sound estate plan is three documents: a will that says who gets what, an enduring power of attorney for your money if you can’t manage it, and a personal directive for medical decisions. Most people need exactly that, drafted carefully â not a trust structure sold by the hour. When someone dies, we take the probate paperwork off the family’s desk and tell the executor precisely what to sign, and when.
Wills, powers of attorney, and directives are flat-fee — the numbers are in the table below. Probate and estate administration are quoted as a flat fee once we have seen the estate, before you commit to anything.
Buying or selling a home is a legal transfer with a hard deadline. Our job is to make sure the money moves, the title is clean, and the keys change hands on the day the contract says. You get a call from us when it’s done â not a mystery about whether it happened.
Purchases $1,150 flat. Sales $950 flat. Land-titles fees and disbursements are quoted in writing up front, so the number you plan around is the number you pay.
Most owner-run companies need a small set of documents done properly: an incorporation that fits how you’ll actually pay yourself, a shareholder agreement that plans the exit while everyone is still friends, and contracts a customer can read without a lawyer beside them. We act as outside counsel for businesses too small to have one inside â which is most of them.
Incorporations $975 flat plus registry fees. Standard agreements are flat-quoted after review. Negotiations run hourly at $340–$385 against a written estimate you approve first.
No. 2How We Charge
Most firms treat fees as a conversation for later. We publish ours. Common matters are flat-fee; everything else gets a written estimate you approve before we open the file.
| Common matters, flat fee | Fee |
|---|---|
| Simple willOne will, straightforward estate — signed and witnessed at our office. | $650 |
| Wills for a coupleTwo mirror wills, prepared together in a single process. | $950 |
| Power of attorney & personal directiveBoth documents, for one person. Add to any will package. | $450 |
| Uncontested divorceBoth parties in agreement — drafting, filing, and desk divorce. | from $2,400 |
| Residential purchaseContract review to keys in hand. Land-titles fees quoted up front. | $1,150 |
| Residential salePayout, transfer, and trust accounting — closed on the contract day. | $950 |
| Alberta incorporationIncorporation, minute book, and organizing resolutions. Registry fees extra. | $975 |
Fees in Canadian dollars, plus GST and disbursements — both stated in your quote, not discovered on your invoice. Current to July 2026 for standard matters as described.
No. 3Principles
Every letter, agreement, and invoice we produce is written to be understood on first reading. If you have to phone us to translate our own work, the failure is ours — and that call is free.
A written estimate before work begins; an itemized invoice each month; your approval before any change in scope is billed. No client should learn what a matter cost by opening the final bill.
Call before 3 p.m. and a partner calls you back the same business day. Reception is a person, not a menu — and in a family or estate matter, silence from your lawyer is its own kind of harm.
No. 4The Partners
Partner — Family Law
LL.B., University of Saskatchewan · Called to the Alberta Bar, 2007
Ingrid has spent nearly two decades helping Calgary families take marriages apart without taking childhoods apart with them. A trained collaborative negotiator, she treats the courtroom as the last tool in the drawer — and knows exactly how to use it when it is the right one.
Partner — Wills, Estates & Property
J.D., University of Alberta · Called to the Alberta Bar, 2011
Marcus drafts the documents families reach for on their hardest days, and closes the purchases behind their happiest ones. Clients know him for estate plans explained on a single page and closings that complete on the day they were promised.
“Ingrid quoted a number in our first meeting, and the final invoice matched it. Two years of a difficult divorce, and I was never once surprised — by the process or by the bill.”
No. 5Consultation
One hour, with a partner, for $250 — credited in full to your file if you retain us. Come with documents, or only with questions. You will leave knowing your options, the likely cost of each, and your next step, in writing.