Costs Associated Deputyship Administration
Reasons to choose Wilson Browne
Costs associated with the appointment of a Professional Deputy and their management of P’s property and affairs.
Managing a loved one’s financial affairs can be emotive and challenging. Sometimes, appointing a professional deputy to manage this is the best option. We have managed financial affairs as a deputy for over 50 clients, and our team of experts will ensure that your loved one’s finances are in order.
If a professional deputy is not needed, Wilson Browne can also assist with appointing a deputy, the Annual Report, or additional applications.
The costs associated with appointing a professional deputy are listed below. These include fixed costs, cost assessments, hourly rates, standalone applications, and discussions around a contested application. If you need any assistance or have queries about the below, please do not hesitate to contact one of our experts.
On this page:
- The appointment of a Professional Deputy and fixed costs
- When would fixed costs not be appropriate and what would we do?
- Interim billing
- Court of Protection guidelines hourly rates
- The 4.5% regime (where P has less than £20,300 net assets)
- Standalone applications to include statutory wills; gifts or loan applications; IHT planning or specific authority
- A contested application
- How we can help
The appointment of a Professional Deputy and fixed costs
- The Court of Protection states that the costs of a professional deputy must be reasonable and proportionate to the total value of the person’s estate and the amount of work done.
- The Court of Protection has introduced fixed costs that solicitors may claim to make an application and then once appointed to act as a deputy.
- The information below sets out the fees for the ongoing management of someone’s property and affairs and other costs that may be required.
| Once appointed, the professional deputy for property and affairs may charge: | Fee: |
| In the first year of management of the person’s financial affairs (where they have over £16,000 net assets)
(Net assets include any land or property owned except where that land or property is occupied by the person or a dependent.) |
Up to £2116 plus VAT of £423.20 a (a total of £2539.20) |
| For the second and subsequent years of management (for net assets over £16,000) | Up to £1672 plus VAT of £334 (a total of £2004)
|
| Where the person has below £20,300 net assets, the professional deputy may take a management fee capped at
4.5% of the total assets.
|
Not exceeding 4.5% of net assets.
|
| A fee for preparing and submitting an annual report or account to the Public Guardian | £336 plus VAT of £67.20 (a total of £403.20) or assessment of fees |
When would fixed costs not be appropriate, and what would we do?
- Management of the person’s property and affairs has far exceeded the fixed costs set out above.
- The complexities of the person’s assets mean that completing an Annual Report, for example, may take longer.
- The professional deputy may submit a bill of costs to the Senior Court Costs Office (SCCO) for detailed assessment.
- The SCCO will ensure the deputy’s costs are reasonable and proportionate and disallow any costs they believe are not. Following the assessment, the SCCO will issue a final costs certificate.
- In addition to this, when submitting a bill of costs there is a £96.00 SCCO fee and cost draftsman fees payable by the person.
- A professional deputy cannot request a costs assessment from the SCCO if the person’s net assets are below £20,300 unless the court makes a specific order granting this.
Interim billing
- We are entitled to bill on an interim basis for the work we do as a professional deputy.
- These Interim bills should not exceed 75% of the total time charged for the year or the cost estimate provided to the office of the public guardian (whichever is lower).
- At the end of each management year, the deputy may submit their bill of costs to the Senior Courts Cost Office for detailed assessment if the total time charged exceeds fixed costs. The final bill will be calculated by taking the interim bills into consideration.
Court of Protection guidelines hourly rates
| Grade A fee earner Solicitors/Legal executive with over 8 years’ experience. | £282.00 plus VAT of £56.40 (a total of £338.40) |
| Grade B fee earner Solicitor or legal executive with over 4 years’ experience. | £242.00 plus VAT of £48.40 (a total of £290.40) |
| Grade C fee earner Chartered Legal Executive or Senior Legal Practitioner
or solicitors with equivalent experience. |
£196.00 plus VAT of £39.20 (a total of £235.20) |
| Grade D fee earner Trainee legal executive, Trainee Solicitor or Paralegal. | £139.00 plus VAT of £27.80 (a total of £166.80) |
The 4.5% regime (where P has less than £20,300 net assets)
- The 4.5% regime is where the person has less than £20,300 net assets.
- Net assets would include any land or property owned by the person.
Standalone applications to include statutory Wills, gifts or loan applications, IHT planning, or specific authority.
- These applications fall outside the general management of the person’s property and affairs, and our costs will be assessed separately once the matter has been conducted.
A contested application
- If an application is contested, an order may not be made as requested.
- The general rule as to costs in property and affairs applications is that the costs of all parties are payable from P’s funds (Court of Protection Rules 2017 (“COPR”), rule 19.2. However, the Court has direction to depart from the general rule as to costs depending on the outcome of the proceedings and the conduct of the parties.
- In cases where there are multiple respondents, the Court rules only allow for one set of legal costs (rule 19.8). If the proceedings become contested, we will need to consider how this is managed in order to avoid incurring costs you may otherwise unintentionally end up incurring personally.