Deputyship - can I do the application myself?

Daisefair

My partner has suddenly and unexpectedly lost capacity. Unfortunately we do not have a POA for him and I do not have access to his finances to pay for his care bills. I am looking into obtaining deputyship for him and have received quotes of £568 for the Cop3 assessment to be carried out and between £1500 pounds and £2000 pounds for the solicitors to do their bit. I did my parents' POAs without too much trouble but the deputyship paperwork looks more complicated. Has anyone successfully applied for deputyship themselves? Also, is a professional needed to do the assessment and who can be used to do it? Thanking you all in advance for any advice you can offer.

elsien

You will need a professional to do the COP 3. 

The guidance saysThe practitioner may be a registered:

– medical practitioner, for example the GP of the person to whom the application relates;
– psychiatrist
– approved mental health professional
– social worker
– psychologist
– nurse, or
– occupational therapist

If there is a social worker involved, you can ask them if they would complete it - they are your best bet.  Medical professionals are also on the list but experience shows that most of them won’t touch it with a barge pole
It’s not as simple as just a quick letter saying someone has dementia/had a stroke etc and lacks capacity - they have to do a capacity assessment specifically around finances and medical professionals tend not to want to go there.

 So although there are people who can complete it in practice those  willing to do so are limited so paying a solicitor it might be the only realistic option.

I have had to complete a CoP 24 for other purposes as part of my job and I would’ve struggled without templates and guidance from my organisation. Some of my colleagues have had the local authority legal team send them back for amendment before submitting.

This may be one of the occasions when paying out is going to be the quickest and easiest route for you. 

In case you weren’t aware, deputyships were taking over 12 months. That may have improved slightly but it’s still not a quick process so if his care is being local authority funded you might need to come to a deferred payment arrangement.
You have no obligation to pay those bills on his behalf, Just in case anyone tries to tell you otherwise.

You might already be aware of this, but you can apply to be his DWP appointee for any benefits/State pension depending on his age while the deputyship goes through. This will at least bring some money in to give him spending money for necessities while you sort everything else out

Daisefair

Thank you for your reply. I have actually spoken to the alzheimers society today and they said that some people do do their own deputyship applications. I'll have a good look at the paperwork but may end up using solicitors.