Court of Protection

The Court of Protection was set up to protect the personal and financial rights of older people and those with disabilities, whether living at home or in residential settings. This has resulted in more people creating powers of attorney so that family members or friends can take over the management of their affairs, with the need for oversight or intervention by the Court of Protection.

The team at East Anglian Chambers has the expertise to advise and work with family members, litigations friends including the Official Solicitor, local authorities or healthcare bodies on these issues. In addition to specialist in trusts and probate, members of the family law team also provide advice and representation in Court of Protection cases in which the primary concern is the welfare of older or disabled people to protect their rights and/or their assets.

  • Personal welfare applications, including whether it is in the person’s best interests to live in a family home or residential care or other care setting, disputes over arrangements for contact with family members, decisions on complex/interventionist care packages involving deprivation or restriction of liberty
  • Emergency applications, e.g. the transfer of a person lacking capacity to a new care setting, requiring a transfer plan with potential deprivation of liberty, requiring advance authorisation by the court
  • Advising on local authority safeguarding duties and on the community care law issues arising in Court of Protection cases
  • Contested applications for the appointment of deputies (welfare/financial affairs), and other property and affairs applications, e.g. arrangements for the person lacking capacity’s affairs necessitated by a move to supported living or into long-term residential care; issues arising under Lasting Powers of Attorney, such as applications by the Office of the Public Guardian to revoke the power
  • Proceedings concerning 16 and 17 year olds, and the overlapping jurisdictions of the Court of Protection and Children Act 1989
  • Members of our team can also offer expertise in related areas of law: community care, public law, mental health and family law. We can advise in these areas when they arise in Court of Protection cases and can act in related proceedings.

Please call us now on 01473 214481 and speak to a member of our clerking team for further advice and assistance