Where a family member has lost capacity and did not sign an enduring power of attorney, an application to the Family Court under the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988 is the only way to obtain the authority to act for them. Our first article explains the difference between the two appointments, and which one is likely to apply to your situation, which you can read here.
This article deals with what happens next. It is written for people who have decided to apply, and for those who have been appointed and want to know what the role actually asks of them.
What we will need from you
To prepare the applications we will usually ask you for the following:
- A medical report, completed on the standard form, by a doctor who knows your family member well.
- Evidence of their assets and liabilities, such as bank statements, term deposits, property, loans, credit cards, and vehicles, together with a breakdown of their regular expenses.
- Confirmation of where they are living, or the care facility they are moving into.
- The full names and contact details of their other close family members, as these people are entitled to be notified.
Once we have that material, we will prepare a draft affidavit for you to review. Nothing is filed until you are happy with it.
Consents from other family members
We will also contact your family member’s other close relatives about signing consents. Most families deal with this without difficulty, and a consent simply confirms that the person does not oppose your appointment. Where a relative would rather not sign, or cannot be located, the application can still proceed, and they will be served with the papers and given the opportunity to be heard.
It is better to raise the application with everyone early. Applications that arrive as a surprise are the ones that tend to become contested.
What happens after filing
The Court appoints a lawyer to represent your family member, known as the lawyer for the subject person. Their fees are met by the Court in the first instance. Where your family member has assets of their own, however, the Court can order that those fees be reimbursed out of their property, and in practice it often does. It is worth allowing for this when you are working out what the application will cost.
That lawyer will usually meet with them and then report back to the Court on their wishes and on what is in the interests of the person concerned. Other family members and interested people are notified and are able to be heard if they wish to be.
From filing through to the orders being made, please allow a few months. Where a decision genuinely cannot wait, it is sometimes possible to seek an interim order, and you should tell us early if that is likely to be needed.
What is required of you as a Welfare Guardian
Your obligation is to act in the best interests of your family member, and to encourage them to develop and exercise whatever capacity they still have. That second part is easy to overlook. The role is not intended to take decisions away from someone who can still make them, and you should keep involving your family member in decisions to whatever extent they are able to be involved.
You are also expected to consult, where practicable, with others who have an interest in their welfare, which will usually mean other family members and those providing their care.
What is required of you as a Property Manager
The property role carries ongoing reporting obligations, and these are the part that clients tell us they had not expected.
As a court appointed Property Manager, you must file a statement of the property you are managing within three months of your appointment, and after that an annual statement of management is filed with the Court each year on the anniversary of the order. Public Trust examines those financial statements and charges for the time it spends doing so, which means that keeping clear records as you go will keep your costs down. We are more than happy to prepare the statements on your behalf if you would prefer.
Keep your family member’s money separate from your own, and keep the receipts. A manager who acts properly, and in the interests of the person they are acting for, is protected. That protection is lost where a manager acts in bad faith or without reasonable care, or signs a contract without making it clear that they are acting for someone else. In those situations, a Property Manager may be held personally liable.
The orders will need to be reviewed
No order under the Act is permanent. When the Court makes the orders it will set a review date, and that date will be no more than three years away. It is the Welfare Guardian or the Property Manager who must apply for that review, rather than something the Court arranges for you, and you will not receive a reminder from the Court. If the date passes without an application being made, the orders expire and your authority goes with them.
At the review you are able to ask the Court for a longer period, and the Court can extend the orders by up to five years where the circumstances justify it. That tends to be where the incapacity is permanent and nothing about the arrangement is likely to change. Three years remains the starting point, so a longer period is something to be argued for rather than assumed, and in most cases the argument is better made at the first review once there is a track record to point to.
We diarise these dates for our clients and will contact you well before each statement is due, and before the review falls due, to ask whether you would like us to prepare the necessary documents for you.
If you have been appointed and are unsure what is required of you, or the review date is approaching, get in touch with our experts.
This information is general and current as at September 2026, and is not a substitute for advice on your own circumstances.
