§ Mr. Roger WilliamsTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs for what reason Mr. Philip Brown of Llandrindod Wells, reference CSCU 121/03, was refused a refund of the fee charged to gain Power of Attorney for his late mother. [151246]
§ Mr. LammyMr. Brown paid a fee to the Court of Protection for an application to register an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA).
727WThe application was received on 25 March 2003. Mrs. Brown unfortunately died on 27 April 2003 while the court waited for the statutory 35 day waiting period following notification of relatives of the application to expire before issuing the Enduring Power sealed by the court.
EPA fees are payable under Rule 26 of the Court of Protection (Enduring Powers of Attorney) Rules 2001. The court has set guidelines for the remission of fees, to ensure that cases are with consistently.
According to these guidelines, a registration fee will be remitted if the donor of the EPA dies within five working days of the application. This is because most of the administrative work generated by an application to register an EPA is done within the first few days of the application.