Guernsey Press

Wills fees still going to Church

FEES paid by people to confirm wills are continuing to go to the Church despite pledges last year that its involvement would end in January.

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The Church is happy with plans to change who receives probate fees and the Dean Of Guernsey, the Very Rev. Tim Barker said that it had co-operated with the States on the change, but it did not happen on 1 January as had been announced by Policy & Resources president Deputy Gavin St Pier. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 23909540)

In June, Policy & Resources president Gavin St Pier said the transfer from the Ecclesiastical Court to the Royal Court of the responsibility for granting probate would take place from 1 January, with a policy letter going to the States later that year.

From that time any surplus income, which varies but can hit more than £1m., would go to general revenue.

When asked what the reasons for the delay were, P&R did not provide a substantive answer or give a target date for implementation. The Church has already agreed to the move.

A working group to make the change happen, made up of representatives of the Ecclesiastical Court and the Royal Court, has met only twice – on 18 October and 3 December.

‘The working group has identified the jurisdictional, legal and practical matters that need to be addressed to enable a transfer of the probate function,’ a P&R spokesman said.

‘It is intended that a policy letter will be submitted to the States in 2019 to effect the change of jurisdiction. Until that is done and approved by the States, the probate function shall continue to be operated by the Ecclesiastical Court.

‘The surplus income from the probate function continues to be transferred to the Deanery Fund LBG for distribution within the Bailiwick. However the position regarding these funds is being kept under review by the working group.’

The group will next meet on 27 February.

P&R said that ‘work is being progressed outside the working group meetings to consider the practicalities of the transfer of the function’.

The Dean of Guernsey, the Very Rev. Tim Barker, said that the review of the probate jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Court is a matter for the States.

‘We are cooperating fully with the States in the working party established by the Policy & Resources Committee following Deputy St Pier’s statement in June 2018.

‘Until such time as the States agree to any changes and the necessary legislation is in place, the court continues to operate, efficiently and economically, to provide the best possible service to the people of Guernsey and those, resident in other jurisdictions, who require Guernsey grants of probate to release assets held in Guernsey.

‘The surplus funds, which vary from year to year, depending on the value of the estates, continue to be transferred to the Deanery Fund LBG and used for charitable purposes in the Bailiwick of Guernsey.’

The Ecclesiastical Court derives most of its money from granting probate.

In June, the Guernsey Press reviewed the latest court accounts.

They showed that while in 2015 the Deanery fund received £1m., a year later it received £300,000.

That reflected a drop in income of the court from £1.32m. in 2015 to £603,452.

Guernsey is one of the few jurisdictions in the world where probate is not administered by the civil courts.

Jersey ended the involvement of its Ecclesiastical Court in 1949.

In his June statement, Deputy St Pier said the community would notice no difference in services or costs when the transfer happened.

While it was recommended that surplus probate income should go into general revenue, he said a decision about allocating it to the third sector would be considered ‘in due course’.