Contesting a Deputyship Application from a Large Law Firm

The problem

Our client had been involved in a personal injury case resulting in a significant compensation sum. The national law firm that had acted on his behalf in this matter had subsequently put in an application to the Court of Protection to be appointed as his professional deputy.

The process

We assessed our client and determined he had capacity to make his own decisions and didn’t require a deputy. We obtained an expert report from a neuropsychologist who agreed with our assessment.

How this helped

Our client had been involved in a personal injury matter some years previously and had been awarded a compensation sum of over £1.5 million. The large law firm that had acted on his behalf in this matter had recommended that over £200,000 of this compensation was set aside to pay for professional deputy services our client might need in the future.

As a result of this, the large law firm had put in an application to the Court of Protection to be appointed as a professional deputy over our client’s property and finances. Not only did our client not believe he needed a deputy, he also didn’t wish to have any more involvement with the large law firm.

We assessed our client and were confident that he was still able to make his own decisions. In order to back this up, we obtained an expert report from a neuropsychologist. The client met with the neuropsychologist and underwent a comprehension test which observed his responses to verbal reasoning problems. Not only did the neuropsychologist confirm that our client had capacity to manage both his everyday affairs and the full sum of his compensation, they also declared that our client’s level of capacity was of a superior range when compared to his age peers.

We submitted the client’s objection to the deputyship application along with the expert report. On receipt of this, the Court of Protection stated that they had no doubt that the large law firm were incorrect in their application. They made a formal court declaration that our client had full capacity to manage his own property and financial affairs and that he did not require a deputy to be appointed.

This was a huge relief for our client. The court declaration meant he was able to have full control over his life again. After spending years embroiled in legal matters, he is now able to live how and where he chooses without having to seek agreement from the large law firm.