Court of Protection
Our team has experience in a wide variety of aspects of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 jurisdiction. Our knowledge of the area is enhanced by our closely linked practices in one or more of the related areas of law - community care, mental health and family law.
Our Court of Protection work includes:
- Personal welfare applications, including disputes in relation to residential care v care in the family home, arrangements for contact between the person lacking capacity and family members
- Section 21A applications challenging authorisations under the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
- 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
- Emergency applications, e.g. the transfer of a person lacking capacity, involving a transfer plan with potential deprivation of liberty, requiring advance authorisation by the court
- Advising on local authority safeguarding duties and the community care law framework relevant to a Court of Protection matter
- Proceedings concerning 16 and 17 year olds, and the overlapping jurisdictions of the Court of Protection and Children Act 1989
Our Service
We invite instructions in court cases and advisory work from clients in all parts of England and Wales. We are regularly instructed on an urgent basis, including to provide telephone advice and draft applications at short notice, which we are happy to undertake in order to meet our clients' needs.
Notable Cases
Cases in which team members have appeared include the following:
B (A Local Authority) v (1) RM (2) MM (3) AM (2010) Hedley J [2010] EWHC 3802 (Fam); [2011] 1 FLR 1635
Care proceedings were brought in relation to a 16 year-old girl with a diagnosis of severe learning disability, severe autism and possibly Malignant Tourette's Syndrome, who was at risk of self-injury. She needed 2:1 care. The local authority sought a residential placement costing £300,000 per annum. The proceedings were transferred to the Court of Protection. Hedley J gave guidelines on Article 3 of the Transfer of Proceedings Order concerning the parallel jurisdictions for 16 and 17 year olds under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Children Act 1989.
LBH v GP and MP Coleridge J, 8 April 2009, [2010] 13 CCLR 171
A young man with a mild learning disability and lacking capacity, was moved by the local authority from his home with his mother, to a care home, pursuant to a court order authorising the move. Police arrived in riot gear and the person lacking capacity was removed in handcuffs. The court gave guidance on how the parties and the courts should deal in future with cases where the police were to be involved in the removal of a person lacking capacity.
LLBC v TG, JG, KR [2007] EWHC 2640 Fam; [2007] 1 MHLR; [2009] 1 FLR 414; (2008) 11 CCLR 161
A 78 year old man with dementia and cognitive impairment was placed in a care home, contrary to the wishes of close relatives, under an order of the court made without notice. As well as containing important guidance on principles and procedure in relation to without notice applications of this nature, the judgment contains an analysis of whether the person was deprived of his liberty when in the care home, concluding that he was not, for reasons, among others, that he was objectively content and that it was an ordinary care home with ordinary restrictions. This case is referred to in the Code of Practice on the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. (See now also of course P and Q v Surrey County Council [2011] EWCA Civ 190 on what constitutes a deprivation of liberty.)
Bespoke Training
Members of the team are able to offer training on Court of Protection work to instructing solicitors, tailored to their requirements.
Court of Protection Clerks
If you would like more information about the Court of Protection Team, please email the Head Clerks for this area: Phil Bampfylde (philb@gclaw.co.uk) and Rob Abrahams (roba@gclaw.co.uk) or call us on 020 7993 7600.
The team
Members of the Court of Protection team are listed below - click on their names to go to their profiles.
