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Deputyship support for families
When someone you love has a professional deputy appointed by the Court of Protection to manage their affairs, the legal process is well-defined. But the experience for the family often isn't. With no established independent support for families in this position, that experience can be challenging, so we are bringing families together to change that.
The Almond Tree Foundation is connecting families affected by professional deputyship to share their experiences, talk honestly about what the deputyship process is like from the family's side, and help shape the support needed.
Is this for you?
This is for family members of someone whose affairs are managed by a professional deputy through the Court of Protection. That includes parents, siblings, spouses, adult children, and other close relatives.
Families come to professional deputyship through different routes: a serious injury, a clinical negligence settlement, a disability present from birth, or a loss of capacity. The legal arrangement is the same, but the family experience varies.
What tends to be shared is the loss of day-to-day control over decisions, the awkwardness of working with a professional who manages money and formal decisions for someone you love, and the isolation of not knowing other families in the same position.
If any of this sounds familiar, we would like to hear from you.
What's on offer
The support is still being shaped, but we expect it to offer:
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Connection and shared experience with other families who understand professional deputyship from the inside.
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Practical insight into things like working with a deputy, navigating the Office of the Public Guardian, and managing the day-to-day reality of the arrangement.
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Plain-language explanation of how deputyship works, including the role of the Court of Protection, the Office of the Public Guardian, and professional deputies.
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Occasional expert input from solicitors, professional deputies, and others will be available as needed.
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Signposting to proper legal resources and professional support.
The group sits alongside the formal legal and professional arrangements already in place. It does not replace a professional deputy, solicitor, case manager, the Court of Protection, or the Office of the Public Guardian, and we do not give legal advice.
Why we are creating this
Julian Fraser, co-founder of the Almond Tree Foundation, has an adult daughter whose affairs are managed by a professional deputy. This work has grown out of his own experience and conversations with other families.
Families in this position are often surrounded by professionals and processes, and still have nowhere to get a clear view of how the system works or to talk about what the experience is actually like from their side.
As far as we can tell, there is no peer support community in the UK for families living with professional deputyship. That is the gap we are trying to address.
For professionals
If you are a professional deputy, solicitor, case manager, or work in a charity or clinical setting that supports families affected by professional deputyship, this is for you to know about.
Families often have strong professional support around the legal and practical side of deputyship, but little in the way of peer connection or space to talk about the experience itself. This group is intended to sit alongside the work you do, as somewhere you can point families who might benefit from connection with others in a similar position.
The Almond Tree Foundation is a charity member of the Professional Deputies Forum.
If you would like to talk about signposting families, or about helping shape the support as it develops, please get in touch.
Get in touch
Whether you are a family member, a professional working in this area, or someone who supports families in this position, we would like to hear from you.