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When someone you love and care for lacks mental capacity it can be difficult to deal with and even harder to talk about. Many people feel there is a stigma attached to mental incapacity even though it can arise for many reasons. For instance, it could be due to a mental health condition, a severe learning difficulty, a brain injury, a stroke or unconsciousness due to an anaesthetic or sudden accident. We can help you deal with and solve the practical problems that can arise when incapacity becomes an issue for someone you care about, or care for.
We can inform you about The Mental Capacity Act, which is designed to protect people who lack the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves. We can also advise you about the two stage capacity test which is carried out to judge capacity, and we can tell you what to do if the person who lacks capacity has not made a Lasting Power of Attorney. In such a case it may be necessary for someone to be appointed as their Deputy by the Court of Protection.
Most Deputies are appointed to deal with an incapacitated person’s Property and Financial Affairs. The Court only appoints a Deputy to make personal welfare or healthcare decisions in the most extreme cases, where action cannot be taken without the need for formal powers or where there is no other way of making a decision that is in the best interests of the person lacking capacity. However it is possible to make applications to the Court about an incapacitated persons health and welfare and we can advise you how to do this if this is necessary.
We offer a full Deputyship service for the appointment of a Property and Financial Affairs Deputy, which takes the application paperwork out of your hands. We can arrange the capacity assessment, completion of the requisite medical certificate and draft the application for you to become a Deputy.
Alternatively, you may just need advice about what a Deputy’s role is and we can give you guidance about this, about how the Mental Capacity Act Code of Conduct applies to Court appointed Deputies, and about best interest decisions.
Sadly some incapacitated individuals are no longer able to live at home. If you have a loved one or friend in this situation it is important that you know what options there are for their care, whether that be residential, nursing or care at home. It is also important to know how such care is paid for, and how a person is assessed to contribute to the costs for that care. We can provide advice and guidance about all of these issues.
We offer an initial fixed fee interview for Capacity cases which is charged at £60.00 including VAT for a 60 minute consultation with no continuing obligation on you thereafter.