10th March, 2004
Curatorships – Applications to the Royal Court under
Article 43(17) of the Mental Health (Jersey) Law 1969
The Bailiff has requested the circulation of these guidelines indicating the circumstances in which applications to the Royal Court by Curators under
Article 43(17) of the Mental Health (Jersey) Law 1969 (“the 1969 Law”) are necessary. The Court considers that the following principles should apply to guide Curators as to when such applications are required.
- Provided that the expenditure on such matters as property repairs, purchase of furniture, holidays, visits of relatives and the like is modest in the context of the interdict’s property, the Royal Court takes the view that such expenditure falls within the terms of Article 43 (15) of the 1969 Law. In such cases an application to the Royal Court under Article 43 (17) will not be necessary.
- The Royal Court will regard such expenditure as modest if it is less than £2,000 or 10 per cent of the annual income of the interdict (subject to a maximum expenditure of £10,000), whichever of those two figures is the greater. In each case the figure concerned must be taken as the aggregate expenditure on behalf of the interdict during the course of a year. For example, where an interdict has an annual income of £100,000 the Curator may spend an aggregate of £10,000 on the matters mentioned above in the course of one year.
- In other circumstance, applications will continue to be necessary under paragraph (17) of Article 43 of the 1969 Law.
- The Registrar of Probate will continue to provide assistance wherever possible in relation to this subject. Any enquiries should, therefore be addressed directly to her and she will endeavour to provide such guidance as may be required.