Court Deputy vs Power of Attorney

Technosaurus

Hi all. With reference to Martin's New Year tips including getting a Power of Attorney sorted, I thought I'd share the cost of applying to be a Deputy to highlight just how expensive and elongated the process is...

Time taken
Applied in July 2015, got rubber stamped as the Deputy in December but due to Christmas did not get official paperwork through until 9th Jan 2016. There were no complications either so a simple procedure took nearly 6 months.

Cost
£495 Court of Protection application fee
£1070 solicitors fees (it was for my grandmother who had used the same solicitor for years so they actually did me a fixed fee rather than billable hours - it could have been more)
£100 Office of Public Guardian fee
£140 Deputy Bond premium PER YEAR (must be purchased, depends on value of estate, although other providers are available)
£320 PER YEAR ongoing fee for Office of Public Guardian supervision. This may reduce in time and is payable in 12 months so is not an 'upfront' cost

If nothing else I just want to highlight to anybody else that it can cost the best part of £1700 just to get it official and then potential £460 per year on top. My circumstances were slightly strange and almost unforeseen in that my mother and father (66 and 68 respectively) had POAT over my Grandmother (93) however my mother and father passed away first, one of them quite unexpectedly. With my Grandmother in the advanced stage of vascular dementia we had no choice but to go down this route.

A Power of Attorney costs considerably less. Please, everyone with any assets and loved ones, get one sorted!!!

Keep_pedalling

A very good warning. You never know what life can throw at you so even if like us you are in good health and are not expecting to start losing it for a good few years yet, it's worth getting LPAs in place.

My wife and me have activated financial LPAs so I'd anything happens to either of us the other one can take over, and if we are both incapacitated our children can step in.

Gingernutty

Hi OP,

My mother died when she was an old style Receiver appointed by the Court of Protection for my uncle.

I took over, but as the whole family had helped her gain the Receivership and I knew what I was doing, I was able to do it without any solicitors.

The Receivership later became the Deputyship that you had to apply for.

Yes.

People take note.

It's long, expensive and complicated.

Get yourselves sorted out with LPAs, living wills and wills.

Cos, you never know....

troubleinparadise

Thanks for your very informative post.

Sometimes also the circumstances of needing to take over someone else's finances are very stressful, and months of waiting whilst the bureaucratic processes are dealt with really don't help an already difficult situation.

A friend's husband who ran his own business with several employees etc had a catastrophic stroke, and the need to apply for deputyship to take over and deal with the business and associated finances along with domestic ones really added to the trauma of the whole mess.

euronorris

It's not just people with assets who need LPA's. Any adult can become incapacitated in an instant as the result of a car accident (for example). If LPA's aren't in place (both financial and health & welfare), your loved ones will not have any say over your long term care arrangements, and costs, unless (or until) they have successfully obtained a Deputyship Order for you.


If you're over 18, LPA's are always a good idea to have in place.

susancs

My husbands uncle had dementia and could not deal with his affairs so hubby had to go down the guardianship route. We did not need a soliciitor as there was a lot of evidence from professionals dealing with him, but it still took 3 months with regular chasing up to get the sealed court orders to deal with his affairs, plus we had to fund the costs until the orders were given.

nwc389

We had similar circumstances with my mother in law , another family member had POA but died unexpectedly . MIL had a small amount in savings and her only income was state pension and miners widows pension , I was able to become an appointee for her state pension and the miners pension accepted that document so we managed to avoid the court deputy route .
So true what you say , things happen that you just never forsee !