|
The latest Family Court Statistics Bulletin published by the MoJ shows that the number DoLS applications doubled again in 2016. There were 3,143 applications in that year compared with 1,497 in 2015. Out of that number 1,366 orders were made.
The Bulletin also shows that the number of Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) received increased to 590,593 in 2016, up 80,000 on 2015. However the number of Deputyships appointed remained fairly stable, with 12,436 appointments in 2016. You can read more in Section 10 of the Bulletin available here. Amendments to the Court of Protection Rules 2007 and a raft of changes to the accompanying Practice Directions have been published.
An an accompanying explanatory memorandum published on the Judiciary website states that: "7.1 Amendments to the Court of Protection Rules are long overdue: no comprehensive update of rules has been done since they were first introduced in 2007, and there have been only very limited amendments in 2009 and 2011, and some more substantial amendments in 2015. The changes made by this instrument will strengthen the Court of Protection’s powers to deal with current challenges particularly the increase in caseloads and complexity of cases. 7.2 The proposed rule changes will give the court greater powers, following the model of the Civil Procedure Rules providing for civil restraint orders, to deal with applications which are without merit and allow the court, for instance, to restrain litigants from submitting repeat applications. Further changes will also introduce a new framework for international applications that will reflect current practices and case law in cross jurisdictional cases and bring clarity and consistency to the making of such applications which is now needed as these types of cases are emerging more frequently. " The Court of Protection (Amendment) Rules 2017 (SI 2017 no. 187) amend the 2007 Rules in two respects:
Alongside these rule changes several changes to the Practice Directions are in force as set out below:
The court concluded that the Respondent Patient lacked capacity to revoke the LPA for property and affairs but that it was not to be reinstated. Instead, a professional deputy with whom the Patient had a good working relationship, was appointed and the court authorised the deputy to sell the Respondent's UK property.
Read the full text of the judgment on Bailii Judgment concerning whether the substantial personal injury damages awarded to the P should be paid to and administered by the P's property and affairs deputy or should be held on trust.
Read the full text of the judgment on Bailii The Coordinator of The Friendly Trust, a not-for-profit organisation, was seeking a general bulk order that the Friendly Trust should be permitted to charge fixed costs up to the amount allowed to solicitors in the relevant practice direction, so that the trust could continue to provide a Deputyship service on viable terms. Furthermore, the Applicant requested that this permission to charge was retrospective in relation to all existing Deputy orders as well as applying to future orders.
Read the full text of the judgment on Bailii |
Stay up to date with changes to policy and procedure.
Sign up for our free email alertWe do not share your details with any third parties and you can unsubscribe at any time.
More from Bath PublishingBrowse |
RSS Feed
|
This site is published by Bath Publishing Limited
www.bathpublishing.com Manage your email preferences Read the Bath Publishing Privacy Policy |