LG v DK [2011] EWHC 2453 (COP), [2011] All ER (D) 31 (Oct)
Court of Protection, Sir Nicholas Wall P, 5 Oct 2011
As a matter of jurisdiction, s 21 of the Family Law Reform Act 1969 (FLA 1969) gave the court power to consent to the taking of a bodily sample from a person lacking capacity notwithstanding the absence of a specific application within the COP proceedings putting the parentage of an individual in issue.
Luke Harris (instructed by Thackray Williams LLP) for LG. Alexander Ruck Keene (instructed by the Official Solicitor) for DK.
DK was 84 and suffered from dementia. It was presumed that he was not able to manage his affairs. LG, who was unrelated to him, was a deputy for the property and affairs of DK in the Court of Protection (COP). BJ believed that DK was her father. LG asked the court to decide whether or not it would be in DK’s best interests to provide a bodily sample for DNA purposes to establish whether or not BJ was his daughter. The official solicitor, representing DK,
