Court of protection

[wolfie]

Apparantly a  woman was jailed ‘in secret’ for trying to remove her father from a care home where his family thought he was in danger of dying.

The woman is the first person known to be imprisoned by the Court of Protection, which settles the affairs of people too ill to make their own decisions.

A judge ruled that she should go to prison for five months for contempt of court even though she was not present or represented by a lawyer.

 

The disturbing part of this for me is the fact that The 'Court of Protection' is a branch of the High Court and its hearings are always conducted in private. It was set up in 2005 under the Labour government’s Mental Capacity Act to give state officials extraordinary powers over the lives of people who are deemed no longer fit to handle their own affairs.




 

 

[Bazj]

hence everyone should make an enduring power of attorney declaration just as you would make a will

 

I had that power for my mum and it meant I could make decisions on her behalf based on what I knew she had wanted and what she would want rather than some faceless person making decisions based on box ticking....

[Davy51]

Does this Court of Protection automatically take over the affairs of a person not covered by power of attorney or does it have to be requested by a third party for example an " interested"  relative ?

[Lt Kije]

Davy51

 

I think the Woman could have been called an interested relative ?

 

I think everyone should heed Baz's wise words. My Mother has a living will.

[wolfie]

Enduring powers of attorney have now been replaced by lasting powers of attorney. For full legal weight they need to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian.

[AdrianR]

I'd also suggest reading further into this story and some of the behaviour that the daughter did. There is a right way and a wrong way and whilst her heart appears to have been in the right place, she clearly annoyed the judge (repeatedly) which is never a wise thing. She was jailed for contempt. The fact that it was the court of protection I think is a side issue. Had she comitted the contempt in any court, then likely she would have received the same. She also I understand failed to sufficenlty purge the contempt quickly enough.

 

If we are talking about the secrecy associated with the court of protection, then thats another matter and far more complex bearing in mind the issues that they have to deal with.

[Bazj]

she annoyed the judge????

 

so law goes out of the window then if you annoy some geriatric bloke in a wig??

[wolfie]

I have no doubt that there is more to this than reported, the daughter may well have not followed proceedure and may well have upset many people including the judge but like I said at first the disturbing part is that 'The 'Court of Protection' is a branch of the High Court and its hearings are always conducted in private.' since when is that justice?

[Cleopatra]

The son has also been jailed now for doing the same thing the daughter did after she was jailed.

[AdrianR]

As i said - read up on it - she ignored court orders and appears to have been rather agressive. Regardless of if you agree with it or not an order of the court is to be obeyed or you apply to either vary or appeal it.

[fugtifino]

Is this the one?

 

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Row-continues-secret-jailing-Wanda-Maddocks/story-18812294-detail/story.html#axzz2RZ88zIFZ

 

Bit tricky to do much reading up on it if it's secret, Ade.

 

Agreed she sounds a bit loopy herself, but I find it difficult to be comfortable with the idea of secret sentencing, as MP John Hemming says in the above article:

 

The jailing of people in secret for contempt is not supposed to happen. Parliament can't judge whether the rules are working properly if it doesn't know what is going on.

 

[Cleopatra]

Remember when the Uk condemned other countries for holding people in prison for lengthy periods without trial? Remember when the UK condemned other countries for secret trials?

Ahem!

[fugtifino]

Indeed, Cleo.

[wolfie]

Indeed.

[Evil Sid]

Having watched many detective type shows, contempt seems to crop up quite a lot of the time. The person showing the contempt is usually given several warnings about their behaviour. If these warnings are ignored then the judge may hold them in contempt and issue either a fine or a period of imprisonment.

 

Now as to having "secret" hearings, would you be happy to discuss private matters in public as regards to how somebody is treated. It is a court of protection after all and is there to protect the people who may have no idea of what is going on in their world (bit like some posts on here).

 

Also there are two types of lasting power of attorney. One deals with looking after the monetary side of a persons possessions and the other deals with the medical side of it. Both of which have to be registered and both of which can be changed at any time if the person to whom it refers wishes

 

so law goes out of the window then if you annoy some geriatric bloke in a wig??

what has Bruce Forsythe got to do with all this.