Court of Protection Applications
Court of Protection applications
If you have a relative or person that you care about who lacks capacity, you may need to apply to the Court of Protection for authority before doing something on that person’s behalf. The person applying must follow a strict procedure and the process can be far from straightforward. We have practitioners experienced in dealing with applications of this kind so please call the office for more information if you have any questions.
The following are examples of situations where a Court of Protection application might be required:
- You have a relative who does not have sufficient mental capacity to make a Will but has money in their own right, and friends or family members that they would wish to benefit from their estate on their death. In this case an application can be made for a Statutory Will. A Statutory Will works like an ordinary Will except the Court of Protection decides what the Will should say having assessed what that person would want and how to serve that person’s best interests.
- You have a relative who has expressed a wish to give away part of their estate, perhaps for tax planning purposes, but then lost capacity before completing the gift. In this case you can consider applying to the Court of Protection for an order allowing the gift to be made from your relative’s estate.
- There is a dispute about where someone without capacity should live or how their care should be funded. If there is no attorney or deputy with authority the Court of Protection must decide what is in that person’s best interests.
- You are applying to be a Deputy for a person but need authority to deal with something urgently before the Deputyship application is completed. A common example of this would be where there is an urgent need to access funds to pay for care. In these circumstance the Court of Protection will fast-track an urgent application.
- You wish to vary a Will in which a person who lacks capacity is one of the original beneficiaries. You will need the authority of the Court of Protection before proceeding if the variation affects that person.
This is not an exhaustive list and there may be many other situations where an application to the Court of Protection should be made to protect your position if you are dealing with someone who lacks capacity.
Please call Purely Probate on 01458 850 146 for a chat or a no-obligations quotation.