Our Court of Protection team specialises in dealing with the costs incurred by solicitors who are appointed, or act on behalf of, a Professional Deputy for an individual who is deemed to lack capacity to deal with their own property and affairs under the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005.
We have developed an in-depth knowledge of the challenging role which Deputies play and the work involved in managing P’s finances. We also appreciate the variety of problems associated with managing property and affairs, as well as the challenges encountered in engaging with the numerous individuals often involved such as P, their family and the appropriate care providers.
We act for Professional Deputies appointed in all circumstances from elderly clients with Dementia who require a fairly low degree of input, through to numerous individuals who have lost capacity as the result of an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). The involvement of the Deputy varies in the different types of cases and we have an understanding of the whole spectrum. We regularly submit annual bills of £5,000 to £50,000, though we do also have experience of submitting even higher Bills, usually in the immediate years following a brain injury. In summary we annually submit more than 100 Bills for Assessment at the SCCO. With many years experience we have developed an understanding of what the Court expects to see in Bills of Costs and how to address any reductions made. We are also happy to advise our clients as to the merits of requesting a Review of an Assessment and undertaking the same if instructed to do so.
The work that we do enables us to:
- Produce detailed and accurate Bills to help the Court when Assessing costs
- Recover many Bills as claimed, or subject to modest reductions.
- Challenge those Assessments where we believe the reductions are inappropriate, or feel that important factors have not been considered.