We have received a form from the courts about an application asking us if we wish to apply to be joined as a party with social services for our daughter for property and affairs. They have asked me a question.
Please state your interest in the proceedings, (how do I answer this question please.)
Please provide brief reasons including the order or directions you are seeking, or if you consent, provide any relevant information you would like the court to consider. ( how do I answer this question please).
You must file evidence of your interest in the proceedings. (How do I answer this question).
Thanks.
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White25
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Hello White25 , thanks for your message. I know Deputyships is a topic that comes up on the community quite often, so I'm hoping that someone might be able to share their experiences with you. Other members of the community have said previously that there is good advice on the Office of the Public Guardian website that might help, you can find that here: gov.uk/government/organisat...
I would also recommend giving our Learning Disability Helpline a call on 0808 808 1111 or emailing helpline@mencap.org.uk to get in touch with our trained advisers. They should be able to give you some assistance with completing the form and talk you through what information you need to submit. I hope that helps.
Hi, I didn't know it was possible to have joint deputyship, so this is new to me and I am not sure this is what's happening. Did you know social services were making the application? I had deputyship for one relative and turned down Social Services plan for them to apply for deputyship for another relative.
I had to apply to the Court of Protection as my mum had dementia and couldn't create a Lasting Power of Attorney. There is the cost of the application, an annual bond and a fee to the Office of the Public Guardian . Plus sending annual accounts to the OPG.
When Social services contacted me about giving permission for them to apply for deputyship for my learning disabled sibling I knew what was involved - although costs reduced if someone has little savings. There wasn't any reference to a joint deputyship - someone in social services would have had deputyship, who the Court would have appointed. My sibling has never worked and has no savings but I made it clear to social services that if deputyship was needed then I would apply. They agreed deputyship wasn't necessary. Staff at her care home were pleased as it would have been difficult to get financial info out of social services.
Hope this helped - sorry if I misunderstood anything.
Thanks for reply, Social Services applied for Deputyship a year ago, and we just got these forms last Friday asking us if we want to be part of proceedings, we have 3 questions s to answer, we need a solicitor I have contacted 3. (Our daughter was removed Ed from our home, so orough are in charge of her).
The Court of Protection takes forever doesn't it. I didn't trust the local authority in my sister's case so thought you might be having similar problems
I think your interest is that you are her mother and the evidence is her birth certificate. The reasons would be her disability.
But do you agree to the application? Have you discussed with social services why they think a deputyship is necessary at all and how a joint deputyship works? MaxandCyd83 make a good point that not only might it not be necessary, but the care home might find it easier not to have it. But if it is advisable, then it may be that you would rather have sole control.
Hi I don’t know if I replied to you or not but the Social Services are in sole charge of my daughter, as she was removed from our home a few years back, but when she was born I opened a bank account for her, at 3 months old, then I put money in child trust fund. The Social Services applied for Deputyship, and they did say a year ago that I could also apply with them but I did not apply. The reason I did not apply was because I had no more money saved up and I am told that whoever is in charge of her, is responsible for her money. My daughter is not receiving benefits at present as she lacks capacity, and when the Deputyship is got they will be getting benefits for her. I gave the bank book to her care home, but they cannot take out money because they let her passport run out, and never renewed it. They said they are getting her a new passport, they are saying this for seven years. When she was at home we had passport for her from 2 years old, and when we renewed her passport it sometimes only took us 24 hours to received it, we thought it was important for her to have a passport as she travellled with us out of the country and also abroad, but now she is not leaving the country. Thanks for your reply it was helpful. I think we can fill in forms anyway, we have nothing to loose, I think we can do it by ourselves.
Someone can have a number of deputies. You say that this one is for Property and affairs so it will be so that Social Services can help her with her money and do things like open and operate bank accounts or sign tenancy agreements. There is a second type of deputyship for Welfare decisions which are things like where she lives or whether she should receive life saving medical treatment. They may have applied for welfare deputyship as well but this isn't usually needed as those decisions can already be taken by professionals in her 'best interests'.
The Office of the Public Guardian helpline staff are very helpful and will explain it all to you and then you can decide if you want to be included on it.
You can have more than one deputy. I am a joint Deputy for my son for his financial and property affairs. We applied and were granted joint and several Deputyship (me and his sister/my daughter) so that we can make decisions jointly together or individually.
would you be able to answer me a question please, how do I answer the following question please, any idea.
Please provide brief reasons including the order or directions you are seeking or if you consent provide any relevant information you would like the court to consider.
I am not a solicitor but I did go through the COP process myself, because I could not afford to pay for legal help, and because I am pretty good at form filling and being organised.
It sounds to mr like this is a question on the COP5 form, which means that social services have applied for Deputyship, and that the application has been received by the Court.
People who may have an interest in the application and proceedings must be informed and have the chance to make their views known by completing and returning the COP5 form.
So this is your chance to say if you are happy (or not) with the council's social services department applying for Deputyship for your daughter. You can also add anything you think is important for the Court to know about your daughter's preferences and her ability to manage her financial affairs.
Hi, I sent my first message in a hurry - sorry. When I said I didn't know joint deputyship was possible, I meant with social services, which I thought was what you were saying. My husband and I had joint deputyship for my mum incase anything happened to me. Like Mum2mobi says, this is when you can say whether or not you agree with social services' application for Deputyship.
I have applied twice for Deputyship for my step-son Jack for both property & financial affairs and health & welfare. First time I did all the forms for his mum to become his Deputy, then when she sadly passed away I did it all again for myself. I've been Jack's Deputy for coming up to 8 years now. If you search for 'JacksDad' on this forum, I posted some years ago about the process of applying for Deputyship in some detail. It took us well over a year the first time.
It looks like to me that the social servies responsible for funding your daughter have applied to become her Deputy. They have a duty to advise you of this application as, being her mum, you are an 'interested person'.
I believe that 'being joined as a party' means you can have a say in the application before the Court of Protection decides on whether social services should become your daughter's Deputy.
Your 'interest in the proceedings' is that you are her mother. If you think this is a good idea (for social services to become your daughter's deputy) then you can say that; if you don't think its a good idea, you can say that too. In either case you should state your reasons and give what ever evidence you might have. This is in answer to the question about providing any relevant information you would like the court to consider.
Filing evidence of your interest in the proceedings, I think, just involves proving that you are her mother, as mentioned, probably her birth certificate might suffice.
So it all boils down to whether you want social services/the local authority to control your daughter's finances or not. Forgive me being a little cynical (Jack is now 28 and his mum and I have been fighting his corner since he was born), but I sometimes wonder if they (the local authority) are acting in the client's best interests or their own.
As far as I am aware, the fact that your daughter might lack capacity does not preclude her from getting any benefits she might be entitled to. You could apply to DWP to become her 'Appointee' and control her benefits, which is totally independant of being a Deputy (and its a much easier process becoming an Appointee). If social services (I am assuming its a local authority) act for her they can ensure that most of her benefits are siphoned off to pay against her care costs. My boy Jack has been on ESA for some time and the county council paying for his care had been receiving a 'Client Contribution' every week from his benefits to offset against the cost to them of keeping him. This left him with about £25 a week for clothes, toiletries and sundries; not exactly a King's Ransom.
Jack is now in receipt of Continuing Healthcare from the NHS meaning the local authority are not involved in his care any more and he keeps all the benefits he is entitled to. Well worth looking at the CHC Checklist (contact beaconchc.co.uk/ for loads of advice about Continuing Healthcare) to see if your daughter might qualify.
So it all boils down to whether you trust your local authority or not. If you do and think they are acting in your daughter's best interest, then fine, you can agree with their application to the COP. But if not, and they become her Deputy, they will control all her money and other big decisions. This is why Jack's mum and I went down the Deputy route initially some ten years ago, as Jack was approaching 18.
Please be careful with what you sign when it comes to social services please think it through and get as much advice as soon can before signing anything especially if you dont really know what your signing, ive been done over by social services in the past they got me to sign something ,the thing i signed was not what they told me i was signing and i regret it, so please dont sign anything until your absolutely sure what your signing for.Good luck
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