DFH

[2017] NSWCATGD 13

NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:

DFH [2017] NSWCATGD 13

Hearing dates:

9 March 2017

Date of orders:

09 March 2017

Decision date:

09 March 2017

Jurisdiction:

Guardianship Division

Before:

J Simpson, Senior Member (Legal)
Dr L Tong, Senior Member (Professional)
B Epstein-Frisch, General Member (Community)

Decision:

1. The estate of Mr DFH is subject to management under the NSW Trustee and Guardian Act 2009.

 

2. Mr QBH and Mrs SZH are appointed jointly and severally as the financial managers of the estate.

 3. This order be reviewed by the Tribunal within 6 months.

Catchwords:

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT – application for financial management order – National Disability Insurance Scheme – need for specific NDIS bank account – need for an order – private financial managers appointed jointly and severally – reviewable 6 month order

Category:

Principal judgment

Parties:

Mr DFH (subject person)
Mrs SZH (applicant)
The NSW Trustee and Guardian

File Number(s):

22062

Publication restriction:

Decisions of the Guardianship Division of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal have been anonymised to remove any information that may identify any person involved in the Tribunal’s proceedings (s 65, Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 (NSW)).

REASONS FOR DECISION

What the Tribunal decided

1. We appointed Mrs SZH and Mr QBH on a joint and several basis as financial managers for Mr DFH. The Tribunal will review the order in six months.

Background

2. Mr DFH is a 49-year-old man with a severe intellectual disability who lives in a group home managed by a disability service provider at regional NSW. As part of his National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding, a small amount will regularly be paid to Mr DFH to cover travel costs. The NDIS requires that Mr DFH have a bank account in his name to receive this money. Mr DFH’s mother, Mrs SZH, applied for a financial management order so that a financial manager would have authority to open a bank account.

What did the Tribunal have to decide?

3. We had to decide:

• Is Mr DFH incapable of managing his affairs?

• Is there a need for another person to manage Mr DFH’s affairs and is it in his best interests for a financial management order to be made?

• If so, who should be appointed financial manager?

Decision

4. In view of his severe intellectual disability, we were clear that Mr DFH is incapable of managing his financial affairs and needed someone else to do so.

5. However, Mr DFH’s finances are confined to a disability support pension that goes through a joint bank account of his aged parents, and the small amount of money that will now come from the NDIS.

6. Mrs SZH’s attempts to open a bank account in her son’s name have been unsuccessful due to his lack of capacity. We accepted that we needed to make a financial management order to address this logjam.

7. Due to her being over 80, Mrs SZH was keen to have her nephew Mr QBH as a second financial manager so that either of them could operate the bank account. Mr QBH is managing director of a financial advising firm and has experience as a financial manager in Victoria.

8. If financial management was to be ongoing, Mr QBH said that he would need to be recouped for the costs of annual accounting to the NSW Trustee and Guardian. However, he was willing to be appointed in his private capacity on a short-term basis.

9. Mrs SZH showed great ongoing concern for her son’s welfare. She was clear that Mr DFH gets full benefit of his pension with money being paid for various items as well as his board at the disability service provider.

10. The disability service provider’s house manager spoke very positively about her dealings with Mrs SZH in relation to Mr DFH’s spending needs.

11. We were clear that Mrs SZH and Mr QBH were suitable people to be appointed as financial managers and that it was in Mr DFH’s interests that we appoint them.

12. The Tribunal will review the financial management order in six months. This will allow time for the managers to open bank accounts (one for the NDIS money and one for Mr DFH’s pension) and make any other financial arrangements. Once this has happened, it may be in Mr DFH’s interests that the Tribunal revoke the financial management order.

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I hereby certify that this is a true and accurate record of the reasons for decision of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal of New South Wales.

Registrar