The courts are often called upon to sanction treatment for patients whose ability to make decisions for themselves is impaired. In a recent case on point , the Court of Protection had to decide whether it was in the best interests of a man with mental...
Making an application to the Court of Protection for the appointment of a financial deputy is a costly and time consuming process.
The Court allow legal advisors a fixed fee of £950 plus VAT for making the application and obtaining the Deputyship Order. However T G Baynes know from their experience, that fees are generally, for an application of this nature, more likely to be in the region of £1500 to £2000 plus VAT.
It is therefore common, as a part of the application, to ask the Court to authorise the deputy to be able to approve the legal advisors fees for acting. In the event that the deputies and the legal advisors cannot reach an agreement on fees, the legal advisors proposed bill will need to be assessed and approved by the Senior Courts Costs Office.
In addition the following fees will apply:
- £400 Court application fee – this fee must be paid when submitting the COP1 application form to the Court.
- COP3 Capacity Assessment – it is likely that the medical practitioner completing the COP3 Capacity Assessment will charge a fee for doing so. The fee will be set by the medical practitioner completing the form and they will normally inform the deputy or their legal advisor of the proposed fee before conducting the assessment.
- Deputy Bond Fee – the Court will determine the level of security which should be put in place and they will write to the deputy or their legal advisor with details of the Deputy Bond fee. Please see our article ‘What is a Deputy/Security Bond’ for more information.
- Deputy Assessment Fee – once appointed, the Office of the Public Guardian, will determine the level of supervision that a deputy requires. The fee for this assessment is fixed at £100.
- Annual Supervision Fee – if the Office of the Public Guardian determines that a deputy requires ‘general supervision’ there will be an annual fee of £320. Where the level of supervision is set at ‘minimal’ the fee is reduced to £35 per annum.
Professional deputies:
Such as Solicitors or Accountants, are entitled to recover annual management fees on the anniversary of the Court Order. The Court may order that a professional is only entitled to recover fixed costs which are as follows:
- £1150 plus VAT for the first year of management
- £1185 plus VAT for each subsequent year of acting
In addition, professional deputies can recover £235 plus VAT for dealing with both the annual deputy report and the client’s tax return, where required.
It is however more likely that the Court will order that a professional deputies charges should be assessed. This means that the deputy will need to submit their proposed charges to the Senior Courts Costs Office for assessment.
Lay deputies are not entitled to charge for their time but can recover reasonable out of pocket expenses.