Has anyone been successful in applying to the Court of Protection for two solicitors in the same firm to be appointed as deputies for a client rather than just one solicitor or would the Court take a dim view of such a request? We have a solicitor who is a deputy for a number of clients who is retiring and we would like to appoint two partners to act in his place, ideally jointly and severally. Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.
It’s certainly not the usual position. The court would of course need to be satisfied that it was in the client’s best interests. What has changed to warrant two deputies as opposed to one and what would the cost implications be? If it is cost neutral then I would suggest the court may allow it, but personally with the post Lush era, I think it is a bit of an uphill ask.
Two of our solicitors are appointed jointly and severally for several deputyship clients. One usually takes the lead and deals with the matter but it makes sense to have two in case of illness/holidays etc if there is decision which needs to be made in a hurry. That’s after the extraordinarily long wait and tortuous process of actually being appointed by the Court of Protection, of course.