It is anticipated that the draft Court of Protection Case Management Pilot will be live from the start of June.

The Pilot sets out three 'pathways' for the case management of Court of Protection matters:

Pathway 1 - Property and Affairs
Pathway 2 - Health and Welfare
Pathway 3 - a hybrid pathway for cases that have elements of both Property and Health and Welfare

Pathway 1 includes provision for an early Dispute Resolution Hearing. The need for an early hearing is is indicative of the increasing case load being handled by the Court of Protection and more contested applications.

Applications for authority to execute a statutory will or make lifetime gifts are currently excluded from the pilot but, if successful, we anticipate that the Case Management provisions will also extend to these applications. We will report back on what we learn from cases using these Pathways to ensure that the charity legacy sector is well prepared for future changes.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.