Costs in the Court of Protection

Posted on September 19, 2019 in General
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A Deputy is a person who is appointed by the Court of Protection to manage the property and financial affairs of a person who has lost the mental capacity to do so and does not have an Enduring or Lasting Power of Attorney in place. In most cases, a relative or close friend will be appointed as Deputy but if there is no-one willing or able, or if there is a dispute or compensation involved, then the Court is likely to appoint a Solicitor as Deputy.

Usually, but not always, the Final Order appointing you or the Solicitor as Deputy, authorises the costs of the application to be paid from the person’s (who has lost capacity) funds. The Court of Protection sets a fixed fee for deputy applications which is £950 plus VAT. If the Solicitor finds that their costs are going over this amount, they must inform the proposed Deputy and obtain an agreement that the additional costs will be paid. You can request that the costs are assessed by the Court and the Court will then decide what it is reasonable for the Solicitor to charge. The situation for personal welfare deputy applications is different as the costs are not usually paid from the person’s funds.

Other fees, you should be aware of are:

The Court application fee is currently £365. However, depending on the person’s income and capital, there are exemptions.
The fee for completing the COP 3 form which is the Capacity Assessment. The medical professional is likely to charge between £100-£250 for this work.
The Bond premium. Before the Court releases the Order appointing the Deputy, a security bond must be put in place. This is insurance in case the Deputy acts negligently, and the amount of the Bond will be based on the incapacitated person’s estate and whether or not the Deputy is a professional.
The Office of the Public Guardian fees for the supervision of the Deputy are £100 for the appointment of the Deputy and £320 for the annual supervision, or £35 if minimal assets. There are exemptions available depending on the incapacitated person’s income and capital.

There are also fixed costs for conveyancing matters involving a person who has a Deputy and for Trustee applications.

Wolferstans’ Court of Protection Team is experienced in making applications for deputyships and managing people’s financial affairs. We charge fixed costs of £950 plus VAT for applications, for property and affairs deputyships. If an application is particularly complicated, we will inform you if costs are likely to be above the fixed fee. In the majority of cases, we charge fixed costs.

If a Professional is appointed as Deputy, they can charge for managing a person’s affairs. However, their costs must be assessed by the Court of Protection before the Professional can be paid, unless they only charge the fixed fee which is £1670.00 plus VAT for the first year and £1320.00 plus VAT thereafter. In cases where the incapacitated person’s assets are under £16,000, the professional can only charge 4.5 % plus VAT of the person’s assets each year.

Samantha Buckthought is a Panel Deputy to whom the Court refers cases. There is a rigorous selection process for Panel Deputies, and they are considered to be practising at the highest standards. Samantha acts for numerous people, sometimes jointly with family members, and she is always happy to meet with you and your loved one to discuss acting for them.