Court of Protection Law Blog

The Supreme Court has ruled that in circumstances where families and doctors are in agreement, an application to the Court of Protection will not have to be made to end a persons life who is in a long term permanent vegetative state. In the Supreme...

The Court of Appeal handed down a judgment finding it is only time spent awake and working during a sleep-in that counts as working time for National Minimum Wage purposes. Care workers who sleep overnight at a client’s home are not entitled to the...

Figures have revealed that care homes have made a record number of applications to deprive a resident of their liberty. A total of 195,840 such applications were submitted to local authorities under the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) framework in...

The Court of Protection recently ruled that an urgent medical procedure should be carried out on a woman with mental health issues. The court had been asked to consider the case of a patient who is suffering with depression and a mild form of psychosis. ...

A family whose daughter spent several years in a vegetative state following an overdose have said it should be easier to withdraw nutrition from patients in this condition. Jodie Simpson, from Cumbria, had taken tablets in August 2012 and was rushed to...

Newspapers have been prevented from identifying a baby who was at the centre of a high-profile legal battle in the Court of Protection. The child’s parents had objected to an order by Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust to stop life-support...

A Judge sitting in the Court of Protection has issued guidance on how the behaviour of people with dementia may be interpreted, as part of efforts to assist relatives who have been given responsibility for the individuals’ welfare. There have been...

A pilot scheme which was devised to encourage greater transparency in the Court of Protection has been extended for another 12 months. The court, which helps make decisions on behalf those who don’t have capacity themselves, had previously faced...

The Court of Protection was recently asked to consider the case of an elderly man who lacked the mental capacity to make a statutory will. The 81-year-old has significant wealth, with his assets estimated at more than £2million, but had never set his...

Senior citizens and families with elderly relatives are being urged to consider the importance of completing a Lasting Power of Attorney, after studies revealed a significant increase in the number of people in the UK being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s...

A Judge has ruled against the daughter of an 83-year-old man with dementia at the Court of Protection. The unnamed woman, who acts as her father’s primary carer and holds lasting power of attorney, told a Court that a ‘do not resuscitate’...

A Court of Protection Judge has heard that a man in need of serious heart surgery is refusing life-saving treatment in a bid to be in a hospital nearer to his family. The anonymous man, who reportedly has learning difficulties, was diagnosed with a...

The Court of Protection has recently announced plans to shift more costs onto those individuals who have been appointed as deputies. The court believes that Judges should have greater leeway to make relatives cover the costs in disputes relating to an...

One of the UK’s most senior Judges has dismissed the suggestion that the Court of Protection has a “sinister” agenda. Mr Justice Mostyn hit back at media coverage of the court, which rules on the affairs of people who are deemed to lack...

A High Court Judge has said that vulnerable people must always have access to independent legal representation in hearings concerning their personal liberty. In a very significant judgment earlier this month, Mr Justice Charles, who is the vice president of...

A jury has delivered critical conclusions regarding the death of Hannah Evans who was a detained patient on Sheridan Ward, Hollins Park, Warrington at the time of her death. Prior to her death, Hannah – a gifted young woman of 22 years – spent...

Banks and other financial institutions are too often creating problems for people who have been granted Power of Attorney, new data suggests. Although individuals have been handed legal responsibility for managing the finances of someone who has lost...

A Holocaust survivor who has compared her care home to the concentration camp where she was incarcerated more than 70 years ago has had her case referred to the Court of Protection. The elderly woman, who is suffering from a catalogue of health problems,...

In a judgment this month, the Court of Protection (CoP) dismissed suggestions that the authorities had wrongly deprived a disabled man of his “freedom of movement”. The CoP had been asked to consider the case of a 35-year-old man, who is living...

The children of an elderly war veteran who had been questioned over the management of the man’s finances have won a legal battle in the Court of Protection. The pensioner’s son and daughter had been given Power of Attorney prior to his diagnosis...

The Court of Protection recently ruled that a middle-aged woman had the right to refuse life-saving treatment. The case has triggered significant debate not least because the 50-year-old, identified only as C, died a few weeks after the Judge had ruled she...

Senior Judges are to look at the options for making Court of Protection hearings more transparent. At present, the vast majority of cases are heard behind closed doors, with only those directly involved in the proceedings entitled to attend. A six-month...

The Court of Protection has stripped a man of responsibility for his elderly mother’s financial affairs. In 2005, the woman had granted Enduring Power of Attorney (now referred to as Lasting Power of Attorney) to her third child. Last year, the...