By Celia Kitzinger, 6th January 2026
It wasn’t the best start for 2026. My first hearing (2nd January 2026, COP 13846183 before DJ Owen sitting remotely in Brighton) doesn’t reflect well on the Court of Protection.
The applicant, was P’s daughter (a litigant in person), and she and the judge were the only people in court (apart from me). She had applied to try to sort out what had happened to an application to become her father’s Deputy for Property and Finance, an application with “a very regrettably long history – it goes back to early 2022” (judge).
She really wants it sorted because the local authority has been paying her father’s care home fees pending her being able to reimburse them once she can get access to his bank account, which has been frozen. Several years on, “the county council is putting a lot of pressure on me – apparently the care home fees are up to £150,000 now. So, you know, I’m only trying to do what’s right”.
She’s obviously found the process of chasing the application frustrating. She said, “We’ve been contacting London (which I take to mean First Avenue House), and what happened was, when I called them in – when was it, September or October this year – basically we found out that apparently a judge had the case and he’d been ill and was on long-term sick, and basically it just sat there and done nothing… so this is why nothing has happened and it’s just daunting really because all I want to do is pay Dad’s care home fees”.
The judge would clearly like to expedite the case but there are problems – beginning with the capacity assessment, which is “from very nearly 4 years ogo”.
Daughter: Yes, that’s what I’m saying. It’s been in the pipeline for 4 years – just waiting to hear something and not getting anything.
Judge: I’m not criticising you but… You are now living in [county] and so the address on the application form is no longer correct.
Daughter: Yes, we moved house, but it was correct at the time.
Judge: And when you made the application, your father was living in the same house as you, but that is no longer the case.
Daughter: No, that was in 2022.
Judge: The point is that the form I have got isn’t accurate. I’m not blaming you, but what this court hasn’t got is up-to-date information. It’s got forms from 2022. I understand that if your father had mixed dementia in 2022, he isn’t any better and is probably worse.
Daughter: Can I be honest. My dad can’t walk or talk or anything now. He’s just like a baby. It’s such a shame.
Judge: So he’s worse than in 2022.
Daughter: Oh my god, yes.
Judge: I understand he’s worse than he was and this is upsetting to you. But I’ve got a set of documents that aren’t up to date. […] Ms X, I regret this has happened, but the court needs more evidence. Have you got a pen and paper there? [delay while she locates that] It seems to me the court needs you to update the information from 2022, so where your address is given as [county], you need to give your current address. And you are no longer the carer for your father.
Daughter: No – he’s now in a care home.
Judge: You describe yourself as the carer in the application.
Daughter: Well, I was then.
Judge: Okay, I’m not criticising you, or trying to catch you out, but you need to go through the forms you submitted and where there’s information like that that is no longer the case, that needs to be corrected. The amount of money in the bank account may have changed too?
Daughter: I couldn’t tell you how much is in Dad’s bank account now because I haven’t seen it for a long time.
Judge: If it’s possible to find that out-
Daughter: I can’t. The bank won’t talk to me until I have a Deputyship.
Judge: Yes, it is a bit circular isn’t it. I did say “if” you are able to find out.
Daughter: The last we seen of Dad’s money was before the account got frozen, and I think it was just shy of £400,000. About £390,000 or £380,000 or something like that – I can’t remember. It’s the proceeds of his property. He sold his property. It’s his house money.
Judge: Well, if his bank account has been frozen, it will be the same.
Daughter: Well, he does get his pension go in there, and some other…. I can’t remember the name of it now. But anyway, it can’t be touched. It’s frozen.
Judge: Also, the county council should be informed that you are making this application.
Daughter: They do know, I’ve told them.
Judge: Also, that you’ve told your brother, your sister and your father’s sister – using the COP 15 PA Dep form.
Daughter: Yes, I have already sent these.
Judge: Did you send them in 2022?
Daughter: Yes. That’s what I’m saying. It’s just took such a long time. I don’t know if it’s been lost or what because, apart from me calling about it, it would just be sitting there dormant under the judge’s name that was off sick. I’m sorry if I seem agitated, but it’s a bit daunting really. I’ve got a mum that’s not very well now too, so I’ve a dad that’s sick and a mum that’s sick, and I feel like I’ve done it, and now I’ve got to go through it all again.
Judge: I’m not unsympathetic-
Daughter: No, I know you’ve got a job to do.
Judge: So, if you can inform all of those people about your application, and confirm that your father continues to lack capacity-
Daughter: Yes, I could get the social worker to do that for you.
Judge: I won’t need much persuasion about capacity, but because of the lapse of time… And specific confirmation that you’ve informed the county council who initially applied for the deputyship and then withdrew […] The court just wants to be satisfied that other people who might want to be deputies have been informed and don’t object, or haven’t taken any steps to object, and that the capacity issue is sorted. I will try to get it relisted as soon as possible, at which point I hope the order can be made.
Daughter: Thank you.
Judge: I’m going to ask the people in Reading to send you the forms they have.
Daughter: I moved this year but I’ve got a bag in the garage full of stuff, so I’ll sort that out. So ,it’s my current address, the capacity update and… I can’t tell you how much is in the bsnk account, but I can get those form to [the three family members]. And where do I send all this on to – that’s the worry.
Judge: The Court of Protection at Reading.
Daughter: The Reading one. Okay. It’s such a shame I didn’t know all of this sooner because I’ve known about this hearing for two months now and I could have got you all this information. But I will do it now and send it all on to Reading.
And that was that.
What a mess! Although it wasn’t the fault of this particular judge, and he seemed almost as frustrated by the situation as the applicant did, this is not the Court’s finest hour. The Court of Protection seems here (from what the daughter said, not contested by the judge) to have actively worked against P’s best interests. It cannot possibly have been in his best interests have his bank account frozen for more than three years – when the money could almost certainly have been invested and gained better interest elsewhere and debts would have been paid. And it’s clearly caused his daughter a lot of anguish, hard work, and unnecessarily duplication of effort – at a time when her mother is now also ill. The court’s failure, on this occasion, has created a situation that P would surely have wanted to avoid.
Celia Kitzinger is co-director of the Open Justice Court of Protection Project. She has observed more than 660 hearings since May 2020 and written more than 100 blog posts. She is on LinkedIn (here), and also on X (@KitzingerCelia) and Bluesky (@kitzingercelia.bsky.social)
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