The Court of Protection is a court that handles decisions for people who can’t make decisions for themselves. A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that allows someone to appoint another person to make decisions on their behalf.

Nobody can predict the future, but everyone can plan for it. With the right team helping you, you can protect yourself and your family and provide certainty for the future. Our lawyers help you with all the legal aspects of lifetime planning, including lasting powers of attorney, Court of Protection matters and long-term care planning so that if you are no longer able to make financial or personal decisions then someone you trust can make them for you.

We work with families, unmarried couples, civil partners, business owners and individuals who trust us to guide them on what options are best for them and their situation, providing peace of mind for their future.

The Court of Protection exists to protect a vulnerable person in both financial and personal welfare matters.

If someone has lost mental capacity and is unable to give instructions for lasting powers of attorney, then an application to the Court of Protection for your appointment as deputy is the best route available to you.

Making an application to the Court of Protection will ensure that you can deal with your loved one’s affairs at a difficult time. You may find, for example, that you need to sell their home to pay care home fees and the deputyship order would allow you to do this.

There are two types of order

property and financial affairs, for example, paying bills, organising a pension
personal welfare, for example, making decisions about medical treatment and how someone is looked after.
We can guide you through making these applications and advise on the costs involved and time implications. Personal welfare orders are difficult to obtain but we have a successful track record in obtaining them for our clients. We can take you step-by-step through obtaining the property and financial affairs order, how to use the order once granted and what you will be expected to do as a deputy.

Each application carries a £408 application fee which is payable to the Court of Protection but a fee exemption can be applied for if certain criteria are met. If a matter is urgent, we can assist with making a fast track application to the court.

To make an application to the Court of Protection on your behalf we would need

to liaise with the GP/medical practitioner who attends to your loved one to obtain written confirmation as to their capacity full details from you about their financial situation to help us with completing the application forms. We would deal with every aspect of the application to the Court of Protection on your behalf. Court applications can be lengthy and often take up to six months to obtain.

If you are a deputy and want to understand more about what your role entails, read our Court of Protection FAQs for deputies.

Enduring powers of attorney (EPA) were abolished on 1 October 2007 to make way for lasting powers of attorney.

Enduring powers of attorney (EPA) 

There is only one type of EPA and it deals with property and financial affairs. This allows the people chosen (the attorneys) to manage a person’s finances if they are mentally or physically incapacitated and allows them to pay the bills.

An EPA is still valid today as long as it was

• validly signed before 1 October 2007 by the person making the document and validly signed before 1 October 2007 by the attorneys.
• The EPA may still be valid even if not all of the attorneys signed before 1 October 2007 and the document should be looked at by a professional if you are unsure.

If you have been appointed as an attorney and you are concerned about a person’s mental capacity, then you are under an obligation to find out if that person has lost or is losing mental capacity to manage their financial affairs.

If this is the case, then the EPA must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian by the attorneys. Once the EPA has been registered, the attorneys can manage a person’s property and financial affairs and make the best decisions for that person when they are no longer able to make those decisions for themselves.

Where a person wishes to make provision for their health and welfare, they can prepare a health and welfare lasting powers of attorney (LPA). This allows the attorneys to make health decisions for that person such as how they are cared for to and what type of life sustaining treatment they are given.

As an EPA does not cover health and welfare decisions, it is possible that a person may have a valid EPA and also a health and welfare LPA. It is important to check if this is the case, as the attorneys may be different people.

Life can be both busy and unpredictable. There may be events or times when you may need to give control over your property and financial affairs to someone else.

This may, for example, be because you are working abroad or taking an extended holiday and need someone to act for you whilst you are away.

By preparing a general power of attorney, you can authorise one or more people to manage your property and financial affairs, normally for a limited period.

The person you choose to appoint (the attorney) must

• be over the age of 18
• have the mental capacity to act
• not be an undischarged or interim bankrupt.
• A general power of attorney can only be used for your property and financial affairs. It cannot be used to make health and welfare decisions, nor to appoint someone to take on your role as a trustee, executor or administrator.

It can only be prepared and used if you have mental capacity. If you lose mental capacity when the document is being used, then the document becomes invalid and in effect cancelled. 

General Powers of Attorney

A general power of attorney does not have to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian like the lasting powers of attorney (LPA) or enduring powers of attorney (EPA). It is important that if these documents are prepared, they are done correctly and professionally.

An alternative to a general power of attorney is a property and financial affairs lasting power of attorney. This type of LPA allows you to choose attorneys to manage your finances for you when you are mentally or physical incapacitated. It also allows you to ask your attorneys to manage individual transactions should you be unable to do so because, for example you are abroad.

The main difference between the two is that an LPA continues to be valid should the person who prepared it lose mental capacity to make decisions about their finances, whereas a general power of attorney does not.

We can act as a professional deputy for a vulnerable person who has lost mental capacity, and has no family able to take on the role.

As professional deputy, we are able to act under a property and financial affairs order. We are not able to act as personal welfare deputy as companies and corporations are not permitted to do so.

Statutory Wills

As professional deputy, we can deal with the application in its entirety and once appointed as deputy, deal with every aspect of the vulnerable person’s financial affairs. This could include

• ascertaining their financial assets
• paying any debts that may have arisen
• dealing with their property, making sure it is insured and secure, repairs are undertaken and ultimately overseeing the sale
  ensuring that they receive all benefits that they are entitled to
• liaising with the care home/care provider to ensure that they have all that they need and are as comfortable as possible employing an independent financial adviser (if necessary) to make sure that their funds are receiving the best possible return
• employing case managers to manage a person’s complex care needs looking at their Will or dealing with an application for a Statutory Will
• visiting them on a regular basis.

Our fees for this service are assessed by the Senior Courts Costs Office and this is something we can discuss with you should you wish us to act as professional deputy.

Please fill in the form and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible or to speak to one of our experts call 01296 392999