Naomi O’Higgins explains the role & responsibilities of deputies under the Mental Capacity Act 2005
Where a person, referred to in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA 2005) and in this article as “P”, no longer has mental capacity to manage his or her own property and affairs, but did not make a power of attorney while he or she had capacity, it is often necessary for an application to be made to the Court of Protection (COP) for the appointment of a person, known as a deputy, to make day-to-day decisions about and to manage and supervise P’s property and affairs.
A deputy can also be appointed to deal with P’s health and welfare, but the focus of this article is property and affairs deputyships.
Appointment of a deputy
A decision as to whether to appoint a deputy is one that must be taken in P’s best interests. Section 4 of MCA 2005 provides a checklist of factors that anyone, including the court, making a decision must consider when deciding what is in P’s best interests. These are:
- whether P is likely to have
