Court of Protection Solicitors

Unfortunately, not everybody has had the opportunity to prepare a Lasting Power of Attorney determining who is to deal with matters on their behalf should they lose capacity. Should a person lose mental capacity, a family member must make application to the Court of Protection to be appointed as that person’s Deputy.

A court order can be for either Property and Financial affairs or Health & Welfare.

The ideal candidate to make the application to the Court of Protection is a family member. However, there are other options available for those who may not be lucky enough to have family who are able to take up this role. A Professional Deputy can be appointed to act in these situations either through the Court or by an independent Solicitor. This is where we can help. Get in contact today.

Making an Application in the Court of Protection for the appointment of a Deputy/Deputies

When someone no longer has capacity to make decisions regarding their finances and/or welfare an application can be made to the Court of Protection (COP) so that the Court can appoint someone to act on their behalf. This person is referred to as the deputy and the person who lacks the mental capacity is generally referred to as “P”. More than one deputy can be appointed and the Court prefer to appoint a family member where possible or it can also be a professional body such as a firm of solicitors.

There are two types of deputyship order that can be applied for, one is in respect of Property and Financial affairs and the other is in respect of Health and Welfare.  The Health and Welfare deputyship is much harder to obtain as the Court is reluctant to appoint a Health and Welfare deputy. Permission would also be required by the Court to make this type of application.

In order to get the application started a capacity assessment must to be carried out and this will be submitted to the Court in due course along with the other papers. This assessment is most often carried out by a doctor or social worker and the fee for this assessment will vary depending upon who carried out the assessment.

When completing the initial application form, a list of the donor’s assets and liabilities will need to be included within the application.

Once the application is submitted to the Courts, it can take between 6-10 months to achieve and in the current pandemic, it is the latter time which will most likely apply.

Towards the end of the process, the deputy will need to set up a security bond. This is similar to an insurance policy and covers financial losses to P should the deputy misappropriate funds. The fee for this depends on the value of P’s assets.

At the end of the procedure, the Court will issue the deputy a Court Order authorising what they can and cannot do.

Upon the anniversary of the Deputy’s appointment, an annual report must be prepared and sent to the Office of the Public Guardian detailing P’s financial affairs during the past year.

The Court of Protection process can be confusing due to the numerous forms required however if you need help or guidance in this matter please do not hesitate to contact our team on  01702 662963 / 020 35537115/  01277 889193 /  01268 855679 or by the contact button below.