It was fascinating to to be able to ‘eavesdrop’ on the practical and legal dilemmas created by this situation as it unfolded in real time. … to appreciate how decisions emerge in response to changing events on the ground, and how competing arguments are advanced (often fervently) by people committed to P’s best interests but with different perspectives on how P’s best interests should be served
Tag Archives: Mental Capacity
Serving a prison sentence for contempt of court: Luba Macpherson
The Court of Appeal was (again) displaying to others who might be tempted to flout court orders that it would not hesitate to exact punishment.
An urgent caesarean application in a disturbing case
She went to Somalia to be with her grandmother, and she returned to the UK in July 2025. When she arrived at hospital the following month, having had a fall, clinicians realised she was eight months pregnant.
Attorneys disagree about a house purchase for their mother: Case management for a final hearing
Court of Protection judges are very experienced in dealing with fraught situations and family dispute. The stakes are high when family members disagree about the care or finances of a relative who lacks capacity to make their own decisions, and there are likely to be different perspectives on who is being most loving, or reasonable or responsible, who started what, or who is to blame for the current situation.
Cheshire West Revisited
There are probably constitutional and legal questions about this route to reviewing an earlier Supreme Court decision, but that’s not what interests me today. want to write about valid consent, because it’s a topic I’ve been thinking and writing about a lot since Cheshire West
Reconsidering Cheshire West in the Supreme Court: Is a gilded cage still a cage?
Even when P says they’re happy with their residence, and that they do not want to leave, and welcome the fact that the doors are kept locked, this still amounts to a deprivation of liberty. It is this element of deprivation of liberty that the Supreme Court will be considering in October 2025. The key question is whether a person can, in effect, “consent” to living arrangements that would otherwise constitute a “deprivation of liberty” through the expression of their wishes and feelings, irrespective of whether or not they have the mental capacity to consent to those arrangements.
Authenticity of a “Living Will”
None of us would want our loved ones to be placed (like AB’s fiancee) in the position of having to defend the authenticity of our written documents after we’ve lost capacity. We want to produce documents that are sufficiently robust to avoid this kind of challenge
Should surgery be delayed while the legal framework relating to capacity is established?
SJ Hilder’s view was that it would be wrong for planned surgery to be delayed while legal framework issues were resolved. The judge ran this hearing with clinical precision, setting out clearly what her expectations were and fixing firm deadlines by which actions needed to have been completed, and making it evident to representatives when she was less than pleased with their response (eg “it’s not helpful to be told a party has not yet made its mind up”).
An emergency statutory will for a dying man
This is a situation that could confront any of us – and our partners, ex-partners, family and friends. … Another lesson from this case is the need to keep wills under review. One option open to Mr R when he still had testamentary capacity may have been either to change, re-affirm or clarify his will after his partner ended their relationship.
Decision to remove a professional deputy (without a fact-finding hearing): DJ Clarke in action
I’ve observed a lot of different judges in a lot of different hearings. If I were P, or a member of P’s family, DJ Clarke is a judge I’d be very happy to have hearing my case.
Promoting Open Justice in the Court of Protection 