The Court of Protection intervenes and makes financial and welfare decisions on behalf of people who can’t make these decisions themselves.

This normally happens when:

• A person loses mental capacity and does not have lasting powers of attorney in place
• There are questions over whether someone has mental capacity
• It’s necessary to appoint a deputy to make decisions for someone who lacks mental capacity
• There are objections to a lasting power of attorney
• You need to make or alter the will of someone who lacks mental capacity
• Whether or not someone can be deprived of their liberty under the Mental Capacity Act

The court will always act in the best interests of the person who lacks mental capacity.

This will depend on the type of application you’re making. Due to the complexity of these applications, many people will opt to use a Court of Protection solicitor to assist them.

The type of application you make will depend on exactly what assistance you’re looking for from the Court of Protection. As with most court application forms, the full range of forms are available on gov.uk.

If you need assistance from a Court of Protection solicitor, please contact us on 020 3007 5500.

Again, this will depend entirely upon the application being made.

The two most common applications and their periods include:

• Applications for deputyship – 3 to 12 months
• Emergency deputyship applications – 24 hours or as soon as the court is able

Other applications depend primarily on the court’s availability.

For the most common application to the Court of Protection for deputyship, our fees start from £2,000 plus VAT. This fee excludes disbursements and court application fees.

Please note that in some cases, the fees for applications to the Court of Protection can be paid out of the donor’s estate (the person being protected). This is provided that the fees are reasonable and subject to the court’s discretion.

As of 30 September 2021, the Court of Protection’s application fee is £371 for new applications.

We are currently unable to offer legal aid in any capacity for any matters. We can only accept Court of Protection matters which are privately funded.