NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: XNO [2015] NSWCATGD 46 Hearing dates: 29 July 2015 Date of orders: 29 July 2015 Decision date: 29 July 2015 Jurisdiction: Guardianship Division Before: A Suthers, Senior Member (Legal) I Beale, Senior Member (Professional) E Pickering, General Member (Community) Decision: Financial management order revoked. Catchwords: FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT – application to revoke financial management order – financial management order made when subject person was 18 years old – where financial management order made to manage compensation payment and not other parts of the person's estate – where subject person has amassed considerable savings on their own - evidence of person's capacity to manage their own affairs – evidence that it is in the best interests of the person to manage their own affairs – financial management order revoked Category: Principal judgment Parties: Mr XNO (protected person) The NSW Trustee and Guardian (appointed financial manager) Representation: Nil File Number(s): 15046 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. The Tribunal revoked the financial management order it made on 18 May 2015 in relation to Mr XNO. (Mr XNO prefers to be called XNO.) 2. XNO will now manage all of his money himself. What the Tribunal considered 1. In 1998, when XNO was 18, he got about $9000.00 compensation. 2. XNO has an intellectual disability. At that time XNO was young and did not have much experience managing money. 3. The Guardianship Board decided that XNO's compensation should be managed for him. 4. The Guardianship Board left XNO to manage his own money, apart from the compensation money. 5. Since that time XNO has worked at a disability service provider and he has done courses to get better in his work. XNO is now one of the disability service provider's highest paid workers. 6. XNO looks after his own money, saves for holidays and has a budget for what he needs to spend. 7. XNO has a financial planner who he talks to and he considers their advice. 8. As well as paying all of his own bills, XNO has saved $100,000.00 out of his own money. 9. The $9000.00 being managed for XNO has turned into $4000.00 over the years because of management fees, even though XNO has spent none of that money. 10. XNO has asked the Tribunal to let him manage all of his money. 11. Ms LBT and Ms TXS give support to XNO. They came to the Tribunal and said that they thought XNO could look after all of his money. 12. People who know XNO wrote letters to the Tribunal saying that he looks after his own money well. 13. The Tribunal is only allowed to let XNO manage all of his money if XNO can manage his money well or it is in XNO's best interests that the order is revoked. 14. XNO has shown that he can manage his money very well. 15. Not only has XNO paid all of his own bills and saved for holidays and other things he wants, he has also shown that he can save money and invest for the future. 16. People who know XNO agree. 17. The money that the NSW Trustee and Guardian is managing for XNO is now only a very small part of XNO's money. 18. XNO should manage all of his money from now on. He is capable of doing it and it is in his best interests. 19. The Tribunal was worried that the fees which have been coming out of XNO's money held by the NSW Trustee and Guardian were calculated on all of the money XNO has, including the money he saved for himself. A representative from the NSW Trustee and Guardian told the Tribunal that she would look into this and see if anything should be done. ********** 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 DISCLAIMER - Every effort has been made to comply with suppression orders or statutory provisions prohibiting publication that may apply to this judgment or decision. The onus remains on any person using material in the judgment or decision to ensure that the intended use of that material does not breach any such order or provision. Further enquiries may be directed to the Registry of the Court or Tribunal in which it was generated. Decision last updated: 16 May 2016