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Court of Protection

If you or someone close to you has become incapacitated but do not have in place Lasting Powers of Attorney, it may be necessary for an Order to be taken out in the Court of Protection to appoint a Deputy to deal with your affairs. 

This is most commonly required to enable your property and financial affairs to be managed on behalf of the incapacitated person.

How we can help

An application to the Court of Protection can be stressful and onerous requiring the completion of a number of forms including, for example:

  • COP 1 Application form
  • COP 1A Supplementary Schedule for Property and Financial forms
  • COP 3 Assessment of Capacity form
  • COP 4 Deputy Declaration form

Further forms are required if the application relates to a Health and Welfare Deputyship or if a jointly owned property is involved and as the matter progresses through the court. We can ensure the relevant information is obtained; consider with you who may need to be notified of the application or be made a party to it, and complete all paperwork on your behalf.

In cases where there is no appropriate person to take on the role of Deputy, we can take on that role.

What’s involved

We will take you through all the formalities; file all relevant paperwork at court and ensure service of documentation within the court specified timescales. If the application is not opposed, attendance at court is rarely necessary but, if there is opposition, we can ensure appropriate representation at court. Once the Order has been made it is necessary for it to be served on the person concerned and for relevant authorities to be notified.

The fees for the application, if successful, are properly chargeable from the assets of the incapacitated person and in a standard case our charges reflect the fixed fees authorised by the court.

In addition

On each anniversary of a Property and Financial Affairs Deputyship Order, it is necessary for an annual account to be prepared and filed with the Office of the Public Guardian. We can complete the annual report for the Deputy to ensure compliance with the requirements of the order.

Our expertise

The solicitors in our Wills, Tax & Probate team are full members of the Society for Estate Practitioners and Caroline Billings is a member of the Solicitors for the Elderly Group. We have extensive experience in applying for and managing Court of Protection applications.

Your claim must be made within three years of the date of the accident (or with industrial diseases claims, three years from the date of knowledge of the disease).


You will likely have many questions regarding the process, and we are here to make it clearer.

Telephone: 01603 214 220

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