Payments out

Third party payments

When requesting a payment it is important that it is within the remit set by the Court of Protection order and that it does not exceed any limits set. Please ensure that you have studied your order throughly and fully understand the scope that you have been given. This is extremely important because if you make a request and it falls outside of the scope given to you by the order, we will have to return the documents that you have sent us. This can be extremely frustrating if you have requested a payment that you require for a certain date or if you require payment within our published targets for example for holidays or general maintenance fees etc, that are not covered by the Regular Payment facility.

We will make payments directly to the Deputy account.

To arrange to withdraw money to cover such payments out, you will need to correctly complete and submit form P (Payment request CFO).

When filling in the form P you will need to ensure the following are completed:

Full name of the client
The case number (available on the court order)
The annual limit granted by the court (available on the court order)
The date your withdrawal limit is renewed (available on the court order)
The amount of money to be paid out (in words and figures)
Account details of the Deputy
Your contact details, ensuring you sign and date the Form

Form A (Authority to access the CFO account) must be submitted before payments can be made (normally when opening an account). Form A provides us with the bank account details of the Deputy and must be accompanied by a recent bank statement (no older than 3 months) or a letter from the bank. If your bank details have changed, it is important that you inform us of this by submitting Form A and ticking the 'Amending details' box. We will return any requests for payment where the bank account details submitted differ from that held on our system.

Please send the completed form P and if necessary the Form A to:

                      Court Funds Office
                      22 Kingsway
                      London
                      WC2B 6LE

Please note that we cannot accept photocopies or faxes of form P or Form A.

Please be aware that any payments out must not exceed (as a total) the annual limit set by the Court of Protection. We will check the account and court order to ensure that this is not the case.

We will return any payment instruction if there are any difficulties with it, such as incomplete information, lack of date or signature or the documentation received is a photocopy or fax

Please be aware that any instruction for a payment out that exceeds the annual financial limit direct by the Court of Protection or where there are insufficient funds available on the account will be returned automatically.

We will explain the reason for the return and state what is needed in order to process it correctly.

Any payment out will be made via cheque and will be issued within 5 working days of receiving the properly completed instruction.

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Third party payments

Occasionally it may be necessary to arrange a direct payment to a third party such as a solicitor to pay fees, rather than have a payment to the Deputy's account in the first instance.

The Court of Protection will make the direction for such a payment to be made.

This facility is not available as an option under the Regular Payment or withdrawal arrangements.

If the court does make such a direction, you will need to fill in and submit form P (Payment request CFO) with a copy of the sealed court order.

When filling in the form P, you will need to ensure the following are completed:

Full name of the client
The case number (available on the court order)
The annual limit granted by the court (LEAVE BLANK)
The date your withdrawal limit is renewed (LEAVE BLANK)
The amount of money to be paid out (in words and figures)
Account details of the recipient (3rd party)
Your contact details, ensuring you sign and date the corm

Please send the completed form P and Form A (if not already done so) with a copy of the sealed court order to:

                             Court Funds Office
                             22 Kingsway
                           London
                            WC2B 6LE

Please note that we cannot accept photocopies or faxes of the form P or Court order.

In some circumstances when the Court of Protection has made a direction to pay to a third party, they will provide the documentation (payment instruction and copy of the sealed court order) directly to us. If this happens, it will not be necessary for you to take any action.

For example, this may happen when you have notified the Court of Protection of a change of Deputy and they direct the Court Funds Office to make a payment to a third party to cover the period whilst a new Deputy is assigned.

We will return any payment instruction if there are any difficulties with it, such as incomplete information, lack of date or signature or the documentation received is a photocopy or fax.

We will explain the reason for the return and state what is needed in order to process it correctly.

Depending on who the recipient is of a third party payment, payment out may be made via cheque or via the BACS system. In any event, payment will be issued within 5 working days of receiving the properly completed instruction.