Instructing An IFA In Court Of Protection Cases: What To Include (Video)

Before an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) can give advice on managing a protected party’s (P’s) funds, they need a clear picture of P’s background and needs, their current financial position, and a realistic projection of future spending. Deputies who provide this information up front get better-targeted, more defensible financial advice, and avoid delays caused by advisers having to request missing detail.

This is echoed by Stephen Farnfield and Ian MacKendrick, chartered independent financial advisers and expert witnesses at Paladin, who specialise in advising for the Court of Protection. As Ian MacKendrick puts it, instructing an IFA well is about “telling a story with financial advice”, not simply handing over a balance sheet.

What deputies should include when instructing an IFA

A well-prepared instruction should cover:

• A summary of P’s background: their needs, wants, and what is understood about their best interests
• Current income: all money coming in, from what sources
• Current expenditure: all money going out, on what
• Assets and their location: what P owns, and where it currently sits (cash, investments, property)
• Existing financial planning: any arrangements already in place
• Projected expenditure: realistic estimates of how much is likely to be spent in the coming years, particularly on care

Advisers use projected expenditure to work out how much should be held safely in cash, what emergency fund is appropriate, and, only once those are settled, how much can reasonably be considered for investment to support P’s long-term care needs.

Why the framing matters, not just the numbers

Stephen Farnfield is direct about a common misstep in how instructions are sometimes framed:

“It’s not coming from a position of how much money is available to invest. It’s about what does this money need to do.”

In other words, the adviser isn’t starting from an investment pot and working out what to do with it. They’re starting from P’s needs and working out how the money must be structured to meet them. For deputies, this means the instruction should read less like an inventory of assets and more like a brief on what those assets need to achieve over P’s lifetime.

Deputies should expect, and build into their instructions, that plans will need revisiting as P’s circumstances change.

Stress-testing scenarios: a practical tool for managing family expectations

It is worth asking for specific scenarios to be modelled, not just a single projection. Two examples that come up regularly in COP cases are:

• Replacing informal care with professional care: where a child’s parents currently provide informal care, modelling what happens to the funds if that care has to be replaced professionally
• Property purchase comparisons: for example, the difference in long-term financial impact between buying a £500,000 property versus a £1,000,000 property

This isn’t just useful for the deputy’s own planning. It’s often the clearest way to manage wider family expectations, particularly where family members are keen to spend on things like a hydrotherapy pool without appreciating the long-term impact on P’s funds.

The bottom line for deputies

Provide the full picture, not just the figures: background, current position, a forward projection, and any specific scenarios worth stress-testing. Treat the IFA as part of the wider team around P, alongside the deputy, case managers, and family, and be prepared for instructions to evolve as circumstances change.