WHO CAN APPLY TO BE A DEPUTY?
Applicants are usually close relatives or friends of the person who lacks capacity and applicants must be over 18.
If you want to become a property and affairs deputy, you must have the skills to make financial decisions for someone else, so you cannot be bankrupt etc.
The court can appoint multiple deputies for the same person.
BECOMING A DEPUTY
You can apply to be just one type of deputy or both. Successful applicants will receive a Court Order stating what they can and cannot do.
As a deputy, you have an obligation to send an annual report to the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) each year explaining the decisions you have made.
WHEN THERE’S MORE THAN ONE DEPUTY
Multiple applicants must inform the Court of how they will make decisions, either:
- together (‘joint deputyship’), which means all the deputies have to agree to the decision; or
- separately or together (‘jointly and severally’), which means deputies can make decisions on their own or with other deputies
OTHER TYPES OF DEPUTY
There are professional deputy services, such as accountants, solicitors or representatives of the local authority.
The Court of Protection can appoint a specialist deputy (called a ‘panel deputy’) from a list of approved law firms and charities if no one else is available.
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