Office of Public Sector Information

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Rules)

These Rules contain amendments to the Court Funds Rules 1987 consequential on the coming into force of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

In addition, the Court Funds Rules are amended as follows:

• The opportunity has been taken to correct typographical errors.

• The definition of “Employment Appeal Tribunal” in rule 2(2) is amended to correct an obsolete statutory reference.

• Rule 9 is revoked on the basis that practice is now to pay costs out of a fund in court on receipt of a payment schedule, as opposed to a certificate from a Master or costs officer as provided for in Rule 9 as originally enacted.

• Rules 40 and 44 are amended (with consequential additions and amendments to the definitions in rule 2(2)) to permit the Accountant General to make payments to bank accounts held outside the UK by international money transfer on receipt of a request for payment.

• A new rule 43A is inserted to permit the Accountant General to make a payment direct to funeral directors to cover funeral expenses of a person in respect of whom a deputy or receiver had been appointed where a grant of probate or administration has not yet been obtained, provided that there are sufficient funds in court to cover the payment.

• A new rule 43B is inserted to permit the Accountant General to make payments to HM Revenue and Customs (as part of the scheme for direct payment of inheritance tax) to pay all or part of the inheritance tax due on the estate of a person who was entitled to a fund in court and in respect of whom a deputy or receiver was appointed.

• Rule 57 is amended to remove the requirement for an account to be open for ten years before the Accountant General can transfer the funds in that account to an account of unclaimed balances. An account can now be moved to unclaimed balances if there has been no activity (other than crediting interest or dividends, or the proceeds of the sale of securities) on the account for 10 years or the Accountant General is satisfied that the person cannot be traced. In respect of accounts held for children, the 10 year period does not start to run until the child’s eighteenth birthday or, if the child’s date of birth is not known, until the eighteenth anniversary of the opening of the account.

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.