The legal side of caring for a parent, made plain

None of this is a comment on what you should do out of love or duty. It is only about what the law can require of you, and the answer is: very little, unless you have taken on a specific legal role such as attorney, deputy or employer. Am I legally responsible for my elderly parent? goes through the position in full, including what does change if your parent lives with you or if you help manage their money informally.

Most families set up both types together, since money and welfare decisions tend to arrive at the same time. Your parent chooses who acts as their attorney, which is usually one or more of their children, and can set out how decisions should be made if there is more than one attorney, which is one of the choices making and registering a lasting power of attorney goes through in full. An LPA cannot be backdated and cannot be created once your parent lacks the capacity to understand it, which is the reason to do this before a health crisis rather than during one.

1. 1

   Get a capacity assessment

   £150 to £300

   A GP or another suitably qualified professional completes form COP3, confirming your parent cannot make the relevant decisions themselves. Not every practice offers this, and some charge more than others, so it is worth asking around.
2. 2

   Decide whether you want a solicitor

   £1,200 to £3,500 + VAT if you do

   A solicitor is not required, but many families use one, particularly for a property and financial affairs application, because a form the court rejects has to be corrected and resubmitted.
3. 3

   Apply to the Court of Protection

   £432 per application

   You'll pay the fee twice over if you are applying to be both a property and affairs deputy and a personal welfare deputy for the same parent. A hearing fee of £266 only applies if someone objects and the court decides a hearing is needed.
4. 4

   Wait for the order

   Often several months

   The court reviews the application and, if it is satisfied, issues an order appointing you as deputy. An uncontested application with everything in order is quicker; an objection or a query from the Office of the Public Guardian adds time.
5. 5

   Pay the ongoing fees

   £100 once, then £320 or £35 a year

   A one-off assessment fee is charged in your first year. After that, an annual supervision fee is paid to the Office of the Public Guardian, lower if you manage a smaller estate. Property and affairs deputies also need an annual security bond, sized to the estate.

The court fees above are set by government and unlikely to move by much from year to year; solicitor fees are set by the market and vary a lot between firms, so it is worth comparing more than one quote. A full breakdown of every fee in a deputyship application covers the court, medical and solicitor costs in one place, and how solicitors' fees for a deputyship application compare goes through what to ask firms before instructing one. Once the order arrives, a deputy is spending your parent's money under the same duties an attorney has, and what that money can be spent on sets out where the court has to be asked first.

If your parent lacks the capacity to decide, the professionals involved in their care, such as a social worker and their GP, decide together with your family, using those five rules, and how capacity is assessed and who carries the assessment out sets out the test that sits behind them. A registered health and welfare LPA or a deputy has the legal authority to make the final call; being the next of kin does not. If a care home or hospital needs to restrict your parent's freedom for their own safety, such as locked doors or bed rails, the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) are the framework that currently applies to make sure that restriction is properly authorised and reviewed, and at home, where DoLS does not apply, a deprivation of liberty needs the Court of Protection. Can an elderly person be forced into care in the UK? sets out the exceptions and what to do if you are stuck in a genuine disagreement.

The CQC's fundamental standards on dignity and complaints bind providers registered with the CQC, such as care agencies. PrimeCarers is an introductory service, not a care provider, so we are not CQC-registered, and the self-employed carers you find through us are not either. Every carer has had their identity, right to work and an accepted criminal-record check (Enhanced DBS issued within the last 18 months, DBS Update Service, Scottish PVG or Access NI) checked, and has been interviewed online, before their profile appears, but that vetting is separate from CQC regulation. The other protections in this section do not depend on who is providing the care: the Mental Capacity Act principles, the council's duty under the Care Act 2014 to look into a safeguarding concern, and ordinary criminal law all apply whether your parent is cared for by a CQC-registered agency or a self-employed carer arranged privately.

Money is often the harder problem alongside time. Carer's Allowance is a weekly benefit for unpaid carers who meet the hours and income conditions, separate from anything your parent receives themselves, and local authority funding explains how your parent's own care might be paid for or subsidised depending on their savings and income, using the same £23,250 and £14,250 thresholds that apply across the rest of this site. Attendance Allowance is worth checking too, since it is paid to your parent based on their needs rather than their income, and it is often what unlocks your own claim to Carer's Allowance in the first place.