The Court of Protection has jurisdiction to make decisions on behalf of people who lack mental capacity. 

The Court is essentially split into two areas: property and finances and health and welfare. The Court may appoint a welfare deputy, i.e. someone with authority to make welfare decisions on behalf of someone else. 

A typical welfare deputyship order would include authority to make decisions in relation to, with whom she should live, matters of day to day care, including diet and dress; consenting to or refusing consent to medical and/or dental examination and treatment on her behalf (see caveat below), the provision of care services, whether she should take part in particular leisure or social activities and to make and conduct complaints about her care or treatment. 

The court order would not allow you to prohibit any person from having contact with her, to direct a person responsible for her health care to allow a different person to take over that responsibility, to make a decision that is inconsistent with a decision made through an LPA, to consent to specific treatment if she has made a valid and applicable advance decision to refuse that treatment, to refuse consent to the carrying out or continuation of life sustaining treatment in relation to her; and to do an act that is intended to restrain her otherwise than in accordance with the conditions specified in the Act. 

Rather than providing an individual with the wide-ranging authority as listed above, the Court prefers to make specific decisions in relation to welfare issues, for example, it is in Mr Y's best interests to live in X placement. Therefore, a welfare deputyship is appropriate for someone who needs decision-making on their behalf on a regular basis, rather than a one-off decision. 

The Court won't grant welfare deputyship orders unless you can show that it would make a difference to someone's current circumstances, for example, “I am being excluded from best interests’ decision making and a welfare deputyship order would ensure that I was included”. 

Whether your circumstances are likely to result in a welfare deputyship order being granted is something that we can advise on, so please get in touch to discuss it further.