What is the Court of Protection?
If someone loses the ability to manage their own affairs – perhaps because they have suffered an injury following an accident or perhaps because they have been diagnosed with an illness such as dementia.
If that person has a property and/or bank accounts and has not already prepared a power of attorney, then it will be necessary to make an application to the Court of Protection for a Deputy to be appointed. A court hearing is unlikely in where there is no objection to the application.
Once appointed a Deputy will then be able to continue to ensure that the individual is well provided for financial and can make small gifts, such as those on birthdays and Christmas. If they want to make larger gifts, sign a will or deed of variation or perhaps transfer a property to a family member, they will need to obtain approval from the Court. They may also need authority to sell a jointly owned property.
The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) will supervise the Deputy’s actions and the Deputy will have obligations to produce accounts and to report to the OPG.
Although deputies cannot delegate their decision making powers to anybody else unless expressly authorised in the order they can choose to employ agents to deal with some or all of the administrative work arising from their appointment as deputy.
