Court of Protection

You can apply to the Court of Protection to become someone’s deputy if they ‘lack mental capacity’. This means they cannot make a decision for themselves at the time it needs to be made. They may still be able to make decisions for themselves at certain times.

People may lack mental capacity because, for example:

• they’ve had a serious brain injury or illness
• they have dementia
• they have severe learning disabilities

As a deputy, you’ll be authorised by the Court of Protection to make decisions on their behalf.

Property and financial affairs deputy

You’ll do things like pay the person’s bills or organise their pension. You may need to look after their property and consider decisions relating to selling or letting.

You cannot become someone’s personal welfare deputy if they’re under 16. Get legal advice if you think the court needs to make a decision about their care.

The court will usually only appoint a personal welfare deputy if:

• there’s doubt whether decisions will be made in someone’s best interests, for example because the family disagree about care
• someone needs to be appointed to make decisions about a specific issue over time, for example where someone will live

Why Assess?

A Mental Capacity Assessment for Court of Protection is required to determine if the person is able to make their own decisions and if there is no appointed Attorney.