It has long been established that a Court of Protection deputyship order ends on the date of the protected party’s (P) death, at which point the deputy must transfer any assets they manage over to the person or persons managing the protected party’s estate. But what does this mean for annual general management costs?
Rule 19.11 of the Court of Protection Rules 2017 confirms that an order or direction that costs incurred during P’s life be paid or charged to the estate may be made within six years of the date of death. Furthermore, the Deputy should in the first instance try and agree those costs with the personal representatives as per PD 24B. Where the Deputy’s costs cannot be agreed, the deputy may apply to the court for costs to be assessed.
However, the Court will not assess any costs incurred post death and will strike them through with the following annotation:
Costs post-death is not covered by the existing deputyship order. The COP’s substantive jurisdiction ends with the death of P. As the COP has no jurisdiction to make orders about costs incurred after the death of P, the SCCO therefore has no jurisdiction to assess these costs under the COP Rules 2017.
Note that deputies do not, even for costs incurred during P’s lifetime, need to obtain a further order once P has died, before they can seek SCCO assessment. To the extent that current OPG and SCCO Guidance contradicts this, it will be amended as soon as practicable (as confirmed in a note from Costs Judge James and Costs Judge Whalan dated 13th May 2024).
If you’ve already submitted your general management costs and you receive notification of the protected party’s passing you should email SCCO@justice.gov.uk.
In any event, all bills for which a final costs certificate has not been issued at the time of the protected party’s death should be served upon all interested parties following provisional assessment.
