I wonder if anyone has filled in their own COP form, I have been quoted between £2500 and £3000 for a solicitor to do this for me. I need to fill this in as my father is wishing to sell his house which is in joint names with my mother but unfortunately she is in the late stages of altzheimers and unable to communicate. Does anyone know the timescale involved as I understand that it takes quite some time, also would my father be able to use the proceeds of the sale to purchase a flat which will cost more than half of the sale price of his house.
How easy is it to fill in a COP form please
- Thread starter BARKLE
- Start date
I have done CoP for my mum. The form is not easy and if you dont fill it in right you could end up with the sale of the house not covered.
I take it that the solicitor quoted that amount to do the whole job, but it doesnt have to be all or nothing. I went to a solicitor who specialised in this sort of thing. He explained how to do the CoP, filled in the initial form (left me to do the east bits like my name address etc), and charged me £150 for an hours consultation.
There is still lots of work and form filling to do and it costs another £400 + for the court fees, but if I had to do it again I would do it the same way - £150 was a bargain.
I will also mention that it takes time to come through. In my case 6months and I still dont have the final papers through, so I still cant yet sell her home.
I take it that the solicitor quoted that amount to do the whole job, but it doesnt have to be all or nothing. I went to a solicitor who specialised in this sort of thing. He explained how to do the CoP, filled in the initial form (left me to do the east bits like my name address etc), and charged me £150 for an hours consultation.
There is still lots of work and form filling to do and it costs another £400 + for the court fees, but if I had to do it again I would do it the same way - £150 was a bargain.
I will also mention that it takes time to come through. In my case 6months and I still dont have the final papers through, so I still cant yet sell her home.
I did two Deputyships without involving a solicitor and asked for permission to sell and rent out property (I explained on the forms why this might be necessary) on the second one. This was granted and is included in the wording of the order.
It does take a few months but it's possible to apply for an interim order if things are coming to a head. I can't say more about that because as I enquired about it I was told on the phone that the Deputyship had been granted. The second one took about 3 months and the first one... maybe 4 or 5, from memory.
In my experience, the forms weren't too complicated and there's a helpline if anything needs to be clarified. It was the Attendance Allowance forms I really needed help with! (Age UK came up trumps
)
It does take a few months but it's possible to apply for an interim order if things are coming to a head. I can't say more about that because as I enquired about it I was told on the phone that the Deputyship had been granted. The second one took about 3 months and the first one... maybe 4 or 5, from memory.
In my experience, the forms weren't too complicated and there's a helpline if anything needs to be clarified. It was the Attendance Allowance forms I really needed help with! (Age UK came up trumps
)
Gosh Delphi, I filled in the Attendance Allowance form without help and although Im not saying it was easy - it took a while and needed a lot of thought to make sure I had included everything - but I found the CoP forms, especially the initial one, much harder as I found the legal jargon difficult to get my head round.
Last edited:
I completed Deputyship for my husband without any help.
You just have to read the instructions carefully and take your time.
If you get stuck on any aspect of the application, the people at the end of the phone at the CoP are very helpful.
You just have to read the instructions carefully and take your time.
If you get stuck on any aspect of the application, the people at the end of the phone at the CoP are very helpful.
I had to do a CoP application to buy my parents' house (because I have EPA it had to be approved by the courst as effectively I was selling it to myself on their behalf). I imagine its similar process to the application for your dad to sell the joint-owned house. Or is he applying for deputyship? The forms werent too bad - I filled them in and dealt with it myself. and as Saffie says - they are very helpful if you have enquiries (altho I did send a query multiple times until I found a good advisor!). Its worth downloading the forms and trying to fill them in yourself in the first instance - you can always go to a solicitor if it gets too complicated. Also - quote seems very high so might be worth asking other solicitors for a quote for comparison. As I remember it took about 3 months to go through. We didnt put our own house on the market until we had permission docs through from CoP to buy mum and dad's place - conveyancing solicitors were well aware of the need for the permission doc.
Hello
I completed the COP form(s) for my Mum alone, got some advice from this site (use the search and you will find several threads that may help you) and also the Attendance Allowance form, which I knew nothing about but the DWP advised me about, again advice from here.
The forms are really uncomplicated but wordy and some of the things are very repetitive.
What I found the most valuable thing to do was to have 2 copies of everything I needed to fill out - kept 1 lot safe and untouched and used the other set as "dummy" runs.....I could make lots of little notes to myself on them about people to contact, little things to check out (like last time saw GP, medication list......) and only when I was entirely satisfied I had all the required information in the correct spaces, I then sat and wrote it out neatly on the other forms. Which I then copied before I sent so I have a photocopy of all forms for reference.
Plus, the COP are very helpful if you ring them.
Good luck!!!
I completed the COP form(s) for my Mum alone, got some advice from this site (use the search and you will find several threads that may help you) and also the Attendance Allowance form, which I knew nothing about but the DWP advised me about, again advice from here.
The forms are really uncomplicated but wordy and some of the things are very repetitive.
What I found the most valuable thing to do was to have 2 copies of everything I needed to fill out - kept 1 lot safe and untouched and used the other set as "dummy" runs.....I could make lots of little notes to myself on them about people to contact, little things to check out (like last time saw GP, medication list......) and only when I was entirely satisfied I had all the required information in the correct spaces, I then sat and wrote it out neatly on the other forms. Which I then copied before I sent so I have a photocopy of all forms for reference.
Plus, the COP are very helpful if you ring them.
Good luck!!!
I filled in the forms myself. The people at the COP are just so helpful and are only too happy to guide you along the way. Alternatively, if you get stuck on a particular question, just post on this Forum with the question number and TPers will come along to give you the benefit of their experience.
Tealover-that's a good idea re the dummy copies I actually did that when I recently filled in the Probate forms for my late Husband's estate.
Take care
Lyn T
Tealover-that's a good idea re the dummy copies
I actually did that when I recently filled in the Probate forms for my late Husband's estate.Take care
Lyn T
"...What I found the most valuable thing to do was to have 2 copies of everything I needed to fill out - kept 1 lot safe and untouched and used the other set as "dummy" runs..."
Most official forms can be downloaded as a pdf, if not they can be easily converted to pdf using one of the free converters.
The forms can then be competed again using one of the free editors - no need to pay Adobe anything for simple editing - various versions can be saved and when happy the final version can be printed and signed.
Most official forms can be downloaded as a pdf, if not they can be easily converted to pdf using one of the free converters.
The forms can then be competed again using one of the free editors - no need to pay Adobe anything for simple editing - various versions can be saved and when happy the final version can be printed and signed.
I had extra copies but mine weren't intentional!
I had all the forms sent to me and completed them by hand.
They didn't look that good what with alterations and sometimes squashed printing so I re-did them on the computer after downloading them. So my first forms became my dummy ones!
I had all the forms sent to me and completed them by hand.
They didn't look that good what with alterations and sometimes squashed printing so I re-did them on the computer after downloading them. So my first forms became my dummy ones!