Court of Protection - Deputyship

[DorsetCamping]

Just wondering if anyone else has been through this process or is familiar?

I believe Deputyship is now the only option available to me to manage my elderly DM's affairs as she doesn't have capacity (too late for LPOA). Is that the case?

I need to be appointed urgently as her property is no longer fully insured (unoccupied for more than 30 days) amongst other financial issues that need dealing with. Would it be prudent to get a solicitor to do the application for me

Does anyone have any thoughts on joint Deputyship or does it just complicated things? I have a DB who lives 3 hours away and frankly has not been involved in any the practicalities of dealing with DM - welfare or financial. Realistically I cannot see how he would be able to make any quick decision which often need to be made and could actually cause problems. I want to say to him that It would be more sensible for me to be sole Deputy and promise that I will consult him on major decisions; however not sure how he would react

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I went through this process 5 yrs ago for my mother. Early onset dementia, by the time I realised what was happening, she failed the mental capacity test the GP performed.
As I recall it was quite quick, considering the stages involved. I was already dealing with adult social services and the mental health team. I needed to hire a private psychologist for a report. It cost about £400 but she invoiced me and I paid her once I was granted control of my mother's bank accounts.
I filled in all the forms myself, no legal help needed. The CoP came back very quickly, sent me the paperwork. I then took a week off work trudging round banks and phoning all utilities etc, notifying them.
For 2 of her 3 bank accounts I locked her out completely and took control. With the 3rd I made it a joint account, she kept a card, I kept the account around the £50 mark so she could do daily food shopping but not get herself into too much trouble.
She reported me to the police, but I'd already got in there first. They made a note behind the counter at her local station, and rang me when she went in there kicking up a fuss.
Happy to answer any other questions you have.

Oh sorry, forgot to answer about joint deputyship. I'd say it's not a great idea because as described above, I needed to be quite hands on initially getting things set up, which would have been tricky if someone else needed to be present at the same time.

That's so helpful @ImaginaryCat and sounds quite similar to what I'm going through. Would you mind if I sounded you out a little more via a DM? Thank you

Not at all, feel free

My understanding is that even with a dementia diagnosis it is possible to get a LPOA @DorsetCamping; although that obviously depends at what stage of the illness the person is and what periods of lucidity the person has.

I have applied to be attorney for my aunt after her dementia diagnosis and the certificate provider for her LPOA was her social worker. A series of questions were asked by the SW to confirm understanding of the terms of the LPOA.

Social services were clear to me that LPOA is a less intrusive and far less expensive process than deputyship. Of course if the person is not willing to give LPOA then deputyship is the only other option.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 is clear that capacity needs to be established for each event and that a person have capacity to make a decision in one area of their life that they may not have in another.
Lack of capacity cannot be a blanket rule.

I'm on a bit of a swift learning curve on MCA as I'm also to be made my aunt's RPR when the council apply for a deprivation of liberty order to keep her in the care home she was moved to when she left hospital.

Best wishes to you and your mother