Court of Protecting

[Lucacielle]

Hi

We have just starting with an application for our sons Finance - Court of Protection.

The solicitors has given us a price for his fees and the court fees.

I am my sons appointee as he does not have the capacity. All his benefits are paid into my bank account. I pay for all his outgoings from that account.

When I pay the solicitors and court fees, can I include this sum/invoice which has beed paid in his annual financial assessment the council carries out at the end of the year.

I appreciate if anyone can answer to this.

Many thanks

[Jofisher]

hi why don’t you do it yourself it’s so expensive going through a solicitor it cost me a fortune but then my friend said why didn’t you do it yourself on the gov.uk website so I did saved a lot of money so check it out. Anything to do with my son and his needs we use his money as it’s for him. But you can always check if you’re not sure but they’ve always said that’s fine when I’ve asked. For me the Health and well being was the most important and you can do both at the same time.

[Steve__]

Good luck!When I looked into this (I eventually decided against it) legal help seemed important... If solicitors are already working for you, might they know the answer to your question?

Wishing well with it.

[SpeedyH]

Hi there. To answer your question: The items that are included as Disability Related Expenses in a financial assessment are mostly at the discretion of your Local Authority. It is a postcode lottery so they may or may not include this. However, this is clearly a disabily related expense - someone who does not lack capacity would not need to or be able to have a court appointed deputy - so if your LA do refuse it you should ask for their reason why in writing. They are not allowed to make blanket decisions like 'we don't include such and such'. If your LA has a policy to only allow a set amount for Disability related expenditure, ask for this to be included in addition to that standard amount. Here is a link to a useful automated toolkit that helps you claim DRE

inclusionlondon.org.uk/chat...

Also, a different point: if your son is on benefits and has low savings and income, there are no Court Fees to be paid so make sure that your solicitor applies for these to be waived and doesn't charge you for them. Court fees are based on your son's income, not yours. You will however probably have to pay a Court 'bond' which is like an insurance policy against his money being mishandled. The court decides how much this will be when they award deputyship so your solicitor won't know for definite how much this will be until then. A number of my friends had to pay a bond of £100 to give you an idea (it is based on the amount of money that needs protecting).

Hope this helps x

[Lucacielle in reply to SpeedyH]

Thank you.

This is most helpful...I truly appreciate your response.

Many many thanks