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The Court of Protection Rules 2017

S.I. 2017/1035 · Made 26 October 2017 · Extends to England and Wales

Up to date with all changes known to legislation.gov.uk, revised to 1 October 2025.

Mental Capacity, England And Wales

Made 26th October 2017

Laid before Parliament 30th October 2017

Coming into force 1st December 2017

The President of the Family Division (the judicial office holder nominated by the Lord Chief Justice), being President of the Court of Protection, makes the following Rules in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 49(5), 50(2), 51, 53(2) and (4), 55, 56 and 65(1) of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 M1, and in accordance with Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 M2.C1

Annotations to the whole text

Marginal citations

M1

2005 c.9. Section 51 was amended by article 2 of and paragraphs 30 and 34 of Schedule 1 to S.I. 2006/1016. Section 53 was amended by section 62 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 (c. 2). Section 65(1) was amended by article 2 of and paragraphs 30 and 37(1) and (2) of Schedule 1 to S.I. 2006/1016.

M2

2005 c. 4.

Modifications

C1

Rules continued in part (6.4.2020) by The Courts and Tribunals (Judiciary and Functions of Staff) Act 2018 (Consequential, Transitional and Saving Provision) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/100), regs. 1(2), 3

Contents

  1. 1THE OVERRIDING OBJECTIVE
  2. 1.1Overriding objective
  3. 1.2Participation of P
  4. Duties to further the overriding objective
  5. 1.3Court's duty to manage cases
  6. 1.4The duty of the parties
  7. 1.5The duty of legal representatives
  8. 1.6The duty of unrepresented litigants
  9. 2INTERPRETATION AND GENERAL PROVISIONS
  10. 2.1Interpretation
  11. 2.2Court officers
  12. 2.3Court officers – authorisation
  13. 2.4Computation of time
  14. 2.5Application of the Civil Procedure Rules and Family Procedure Rules
  15. 2.6Pilot schemes
  16. 3MANAGING THE CASE
  17. 3.1The court's general powers of case management
  18. 3.2Case management – unrepresented parties
  19. 3.3Court's power to dispense with requirement of any rule
  20. 3.4Exercise of powers on the court's own initiative
  21. 3.5General power of the court to rectify matters where there has been an error of procedure
  22. 3.6Dealing with the application
  23. 3.7Directions
  24. Allocation of proceedings
  25. 3.8Court's jurisdiction in certain kinds of cases to be exercised by certain judges
  26. 3.9Allocation of cases to case pathways
  27. 4HEARINGS
  28. Private hearings
  29. 4.1General rule – hearing to be held in private
  30. 4.2Court's general power to authorise publication of information about proceedings
  31. Power to order a public hearing
  32. 4.3Court's power to order that a hearing be held in public
  33. Supplementary
  34. 4.4Supplementary provisions relating to public or private hearings
  35. 5COURT DOCUMENTS
  36. 5.1Documents used in court proceedings
  37. 5.2Documents required to be verified by a statement of truth
  38. 5.3Position statement not required to be verified by statement of truth
  39. 5.4Failure to verify a document
  40. 5.5Failure to verify a witness statement
  41. 5.6False statements
  42. 5.7Personal details
  43. 5.8Supply of documents to a party from court records
  44. 5.9Supply of documents to a non-party from court records
  45. 5.10Subsequent use of court documents
  46. 5.11Editing information in court documents
  47. 5.12Public Guardian to be supplied with court documents relevant to supervision of deputies
  48. 5.13Provision of court order to Public Guardian
  49. 5.14Amendment of application
  50. 5.15Clerical mistakes or slips
  51. 5.16Endorsement of amendment
  52. 6SERVICE OF DOCUMENTS
  53. Service generally
  54. 6.1Scope
  55. 6.2Who is to serve
  56. 6.3Methods of service
  57. 6.4Service of documents on children and protected parties
  58. 6.5Service of documents on P if P becomes a party
  59. 6.6Substituted service
  60. 6.7Deemed service
  61. 6.8Certificate of service
  62. 6.9Certificate of non-service
  63. 6.10Power of court to dispense with service
  64. Service out of the jurisdiction
  65. 6.11Scope and interpretation
  66. 6.12Service of application form and other documents out of the jurisdiction
  67. 6.13Period for acknowledging service or responding to application where application is served out of the jurisdiction
  68. 6.14Method of service – general provisions
  69. 6.15Service in accordance with the Service Regulation Repealed
  70. 6.16Service through foreign governments, judicial authorities and British Consular authorities
  71. 6.17Procedure where service is to be through foreign governments, judicial authorities and British Consular authorities
  72. 6.18Translation of application form or other document
  73. 6.19Undertaking to be responsible for expenses of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
  74. 7NOTIFYING P
  75. General requirement to notify P
  76. 7.1General
  77. 7.2Who is to notify P
  78. 7.3Notifying P of appointment of a litigation friend, etc.
  79. Circumstances in which P must be notified
  80. 7.4Application form
  81. 7.5Appeals
  82. 7.6Decisions and orders of the court
  83. 7.7Other matters
  84. Manner of notification and accompanying documents
  85. 7.8Manner of notification
  86. 7.9Acknowledgment of notification
  87. 7.10Certificate of notification
  88. 7.11Dispensing with requirement to notify, etc.
  89. 8PERMISSION
  90. 8.1General
  91. 8.2Where the court's permission is not required
  92. 8.3Permission - supplementary
  93. 8.4Application for permission
  94. 8.5Service of an order giving or refusing permission
  95. 8.6Appeal against a permission decision following a hearing
  96. 9HOW TO START AND RESPOND TO PROCEEDINGS, AND PARTIES TO PROCEEDINGS
  97. Initial steps
  98. 9.1General
  99. 9.2When proceedings are started
  100. 9.3Contents of the application form
  101. 9.4Documents to be filed with the application form
  102. 9.5What the court will do when an application form is filed
  103. Steps following issue of application form
  104. 9.6Applicant to serve the application form on named respondents
  105. 9.7Applications relating to lasting powers of attorney
  106. 9.8Applications relating to enduring powers of attorney
  107. 9.9Applicant to notify P of an application
  108. 9.10Applicant to notify other persons of an application
  109. 9.11Requirements for certain applications
  110. Responding to an application
  111. 9.12Responding to an application
  112. The parties to the proceedings
  113. 9.13Parties to the proceedings
  114. 9.14Persons to be bound as if parties
  115. 9.15Application to be joined as a party
  116. 9.16Application for removal as a party to proceedings
  117. 10APPLICATIONS WITHIN PROCEEDINGS
  118. 10.1Types of applications for which the Part 10 procedure may be used
  119. 10.2Application notice to be filed
  120. 10.3What an application notice must include
  121. 10.4Service of an application notice
  122. 10.5Applications without notice
  123. 10.6Security for costs
  124. 10.7Conditions to be satisfied
  125. 10.8Security for costs other than from the applicant
  126. 10.9Security for costs of an appeal
  127. Interim remedies
  128. 10.10Orders for interim remedies
  129. 11DEPRIVATION OF LIBERTY
  130. 11.1Deprivation of liberty
  131. 12HUMAN RIGHTS
  132. 12.1General
  133. 13JURISDICTION, WITHDRAWAL OF PROCEEDINGS, PARTICIPATION AND RECONSIDERATION
  134. Disputing the jurisdiction of the court
  135. 13.1Procedure for disputing the court's jurisdiction
  136. Withdrawal of proceedings
  137. 13.2Permission required to withdraw proceedings
  138. Participation in hearings
  139. 13.3Participation in hearings
  140. Reconsideration of court orders
  141. 13.4Orders made without a hearing or without notice to any person
  142. 14ADMISSIONS, EVIDENCE AND DEPOSITIONS
  143. Admissions
  144. 14.1Making an admission
  145. Evidence
  146. 14.2Power of court to control evidence
  147. 14.3Evidence of witnesses – general rule
  148. 14.4Written evidence – general rule
  149. 14.5Evidence by video link or other means
  150. 14.6Service of witness statements for use at final hearing
  151. 14.7Form of witness statement
  152. 14.8Witness summaries
  153. 14.9Affidavit evidence
  154. 14.10Form of affidavit
  155. 14.11Affidavit made outside the jurisdiction
  156. 14.12Notarial acts and instruments
  157. 14.13Summoning of witnesses
  158. 14.14Power of court to direct a party to provide information
  159. Depositions
  160. 14.15Evidence by deposition
  161. 14.16Conduct of examination
  162. 14.17Fees and expenses of examiners of the court
  163. 14.18Examiners of the court
  164. 14.19Enforcing attendance of a witness
  165. 14.20Use of deposition at a hearing
  166. Taking evidence outside the jurisdiction
  167. 14.21Interpretation Repealed
  168. 14.22Where a person to be examined is in another Regulation State Repealed
  169. 14.23Where a person to be examined is out of the jurisdiction – letter of request
  170. Section 49 reports
  171. 14.24Reports under section 49 of the Act
  172. 14.25Written questions to person making a report under section 49
  173. 15EXPERTS
  174. 15.1References to expert
  175. 15.2Restriction on filing an expert's report
  176. 15.3Duty to restrict expert evidence
  177. 15.4Experts – overriding duty to the court
  178. 15.5Court's power to restrict expert evidence
  179. 15.6General requirement for expert evidence to be given in a written report
  180. 15.7Written questions to experts
  181. 15.8Contents of expert's report
  182. 15.9Use by one party of expert's report disclosed by another
  183. 15.10Discussions between experts
  184. 15.11Expert's right to ask court for directions
  185. 15.12Court's power to direct that evidence is to be given by a single joint expert
  186. 15.13Instructions to a single joint expert
  187. 16DISCLOSURE
  188. 16.1Meaning of disclosure
  189. 16.2General or specific disclosure
  190. 16.3Procedure for general or specific disclosure
  191. 16.4Ongoing duty of disclosure
  192. 16.5Right to inspect documents
  193. 16.6Inspection and copying of documents
  194. 16.7Claim to withhold inspection or disclosure of documents
  195. 16.8Consequence of failure to disclose documents or permit inspection
  196. 17LITIGATION FRIENDS AND RULE 1.2 REPRESENTATIVES
  197. Chapter SECTION 1 – LITIGATION FRIENDS
  198. 17.1Who may act as a litigation friend
  199. 17.2Requirement for a litigation friend
  200. 17.3Litigation friend without a court order
  201. 17.4Litigation friend by court order
  202. 17.5Court's power to prevent a person from acting as a litigation friend or to bring an end to an appointment of a person as a litigation friend or to appoint another one
  203. 17.6Appointment of litigation friend by court order – supplementary
  204. 17.7Procedure where appointment of a litigation friend comes to an end for a child
  205. 17.8Practice direction in relation to litigation friends
  206. Chapter SECTION 2 – RULE 1.2 REPRESENTATIVES
  207. 17.9Who may act as a rule 1.2 representative for P
  208. 17.10Rule 1.2 representative by court order
  209. 17.11Application by rule 1.2 representative or by P for directions
  210. 17.12Court's power to prevent a person from acting as a rule 1.2 representative or to bring an end to an appointment of a person as a rule 1.2 representative or to appoint another one
  211. 17.13Appointment of rule 1.2 representative by court order – supplementary
  212. 17.14Practice direction in relation to rule 1.2 representatives
  213. 18CHANGE OF SOLICITOR
  214. 18.1Change of solicitor
  215. 18.2Legally aided persons
  216. 18.3Order that a solicitor has ceased to act
  217. 18.4Removal of solicitor who has ceased to act on application of another party
  218. 18.5Practice direction relating to change of solicitor
  219. 19COSTS
  220. 19.1Interpretation
  221. 19.2Property and affairs – the general rule
  222. 19.3Personal welfare – the general rule
  223. 19.4Apportioning costs – the general rule
  224. 19.5Departing from the general rule
  225. 19.6Rules about costs in the Civil Procedure Rules to apply
  226. 19.7Detailed assessment of costs
  227. 19.8Employment of a solicitor by two or more persons
  228. 19.9Costs of the Official Solicitor
  229. 19.10Procedure for assessing costs
  230. 19.11Costs following P's death
  231. 19.12Costs orders in favour of or against non-parties
  232. 19.13Remuneration of a deputy, donee or attorney
  233. 19.14Practice direction as to costs
  234. 20APPEALS
  235. 20.1Scope of this Part
  236. 20.2Interpretation
  237. 20.3Dealing with appeals
  238. 20.4Destination of appeals
  239. 20.5Permission to appeal – appeals to the Court of Appeal
  240. 20.6Permission to appeal – other cases
  241. 20.7Appeal against an order for committal to prison
  242. 20.8Matters to be taken into account when considering an application for permission
  243. 20.9Power to treat application for permission to appeal as application for reconsideration under rule 13.4
  244. 20.10Appellant's notice
  245. 20.11Respondent's notice
  246. 20.12Variation of time
  247. 20.13Power of appeal judge on appeal
  248. 20.14Determination of appeals
  249. 21APPLICATIONS AND PROCEEDINGS IN RELATION TO CONTEMPT OF COURT
  250. 21.1Scope
  251. 21.2Interpretation
  252. 21.3How to make a contempt application
  253. 21.4Requirements of a contempt application
  254. 21.5Service of a contempt application
  255. 21.6Cases where no application is made
  256. 21.7Directions for hearing of contempt proceedings
  257. 21.8Hearings and judgments in contempt proceedings
  258. 21.9Powers of the court in contempt proceedings
  259. 21.10Applications to discharge committal orders
  260. 22CIVIL RESTRAINT ORDERS
  261. 22.1Powers of the court to make civil restraint orders
  262. 23INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION OF ADULTS
  263. 23.1Applications in connection with Schedule 3 to the Act – general
  264. 23.2Interpretation
  265. 23.3Application of these Rules in relation to Schedule 3 applications
  266. 23.4Applications for recognition and enforcement
  267. 23.5Applications in relation to lasting powers – disapplication or modification
  268. 23.6Applications in relation to lasting powers – declaration as to authority of donee of lasting power
  269. 24MISCELLANEOUS
  270. 24.1Enforcement methods – general
  271. 24.2Enforcement methods – application of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998
  272. 24.3Order or directions requiring a person to give security for discharge of functions
  273. 24.4Objections to registration of an enduring power of attorney – request for directions
  274. 24.5Disposal of property where P ceases to lack capacity
  275. 24.6Citation and commencement, revocations and transitional provision
  276. Signature
  277. Schedule Revocations
  278. Explanatory note