Letter · Costs, billing & litigation funding
Disclosure of costs before a settlement is signed
A letter giving the two costs estimates before a settlement of a litigious matter is signed, under the Uniform Law or the Queensland Act. The lawyer removes the statute that does not apply.
- Kind
- Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Where it applies
- Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales
- AI use
- Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at
- 23 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 23 October 2026 against the 4 authorities it cites, for Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when a settlement of a litigious personal injury matter is about to be signed in Victoria, New South Wales or Queensland. Give it before the client signs. It is the costs disclosure. It is not the deed, and it is not the first costs agreement.
Used for these tasks
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
The tool may set out the two settlement estimates from figures the lawyer has already adopted, and it must not send the letter after the client has signed or invent a contribution from another party.
AI may
- Place the lawyer's two adopted figures into the estimates and keep the assumptions beside them
- Name the statute the lawyer has selected and take out the other
- Record the date and time the letter was given, which must be before the client signs the settlement
AI must not
- Must not state an estimate the lawyer has not adopted
- Must not describe this letter as the deed of release or as the sanction application
- Must not insert a Medicare, Centrelink or refund figure that is not in a document on the file
- Must not backdate the letter to a time after the settlement was signed
The lawyer checks
- The letter is given before the settlement is executed, and the file shows when the client received it
- Estimate A includes any legal costs of another party that the client is to pay, as the section requires
- Estimate B is a reasonable estimate of contributions likely to be received, or it says that none are likely and why
- In Victoria or New South Wales, if this practice was retained by another practice, the lawyer confirms whether section 177(2) means the other practice gives the disclosure
- In Queensland, the lawyer checks whether a regulation under section 312(2) changes who discloses where more than one practice acts. The regulation was not opened
- The client signs the acknowledgement on this letter before signing the settlement. Health and settlement figures stay in the firm's system
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
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- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
More in Costs, billing & litigation funding
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- Statement disclosing third-party litigation funding (United States)
- Engagement and costs agreement clauses: AI use, client consent and charging for AI-assisted work
- Who pays records, experts and barristers
- Worksheet before a personal injury costs update
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- Legal profession legislation taxation information form (Costs Court)
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- Letter when a flat fee should change because a tool did the work (United States)
- Disclosure to an associated third party payer, and of another law practice
- Cooling-off letter for a conditional costs agreement
- Summons for gross sum costs (Supreme Court Costs Court)
- Notice to client of a significant change in legal costs (Uniform Law s 174(1)(b))
- VCAT legal practice list application (civil disputes)
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- Litigation funding agreement review checklist (including class actions)
- Progress report of legal costs incurred
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All precedents for Costs, billing & litigation funding · Tasks and AI use in this area