What If Father Christmas Lost Capacity To Manage His Property and Affairs?

It’s that time of year where festivities are in full flow both at home and work. People are busy preparing for gatherings with their loved ones over the Christmas break, but no one is busier at this time of year than Father Christmas and his wife Mrs Christmas.

Whilst capacity is an issue most would not wish to have to deal with at any time of year, any capacity issues may be at the forefront for some this Christmas.

I will set the scene.

It’s the week before Christmas and Father Christmas and Mrs Christmas have been busy finalising their Christmas Eve plans, but Mrs Christmas notes that throughout the year Father Christmas has been having some problems making financial decisions and ensuring the bills are all paid. They have both been so busy, they’ve not had chance to seek advice and have just kept going as best they can.

Christmas Eve comes and goes and the presents have all been delivered although Mrs Christmas has had to do much of the planning this year, ensuring all the finances are in order to make sure they can provide gifts for the children next year. They sit down on Christmas day with their family and Mrs Christmas is pulled aside later by her children who are a bit worried about their father and his ability to make financial decisions. Father Christmas has loudly proclaimed through lunch how he wishes to give the children even more expensive gifts next year and isn’t worried if they don’t have the funds to fuel the workshop or pay the elves.

Mrs Christmas explains that Father Christmas has had some difficulties throughout the year and she has had to take over organising their finances. She had been so busy that it had slipped to the back of her mind, however, she feels that they cannot continue ignoring this, in fact she is concerned they have not prepared a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) and therefore she simply isn’t sure what can be done.

What happens if someone lacks capacity to manage their property and affairs?

Most people will be aware of Lasting Powers of Attorney but they will not be familiar with deputyships. If someone is suspected to lack capacity to manage their property and affairs the first step is for their capacity to be assessed.

Once a capacity assessment has been completed if that person is deemed to lack capacity to manage their property and affairs then a deputyship application would need to be made to the Court of Protection. If the capacity assessment determines a person does have capacity to manage their property and affairs, it would also need to be considered whether they have capacity to create a LPA.

When deciding who should be deputy, loved ones would need to consider whether this is something they would be able to manage on top of their own financial affairs, or whether it would be a better option for a professional deputy to be appointed. We offer advice on the merits of both lay applications (applications where a family member or members apply to be appointed) and a professional appwhatlication, where members of the firm apply to be appointed. This advice is tailored to each client on an individual basis. We understand that a one size fits all approach does not work for people; we always ensure any advice is tailored to your specific circumstances.

If you would like more information regarding LPAs or deputyship applications please do not hesitate to contact us on 01743 280280 or at info@lblaw.co.uk.