Protect someone close to you through
Controllership
- Expert controllership solicitors in Lisburn and Lurgan.
- Decades of experience of controllership applications.
- Extensive legal knowledge of controllership in Northern Ireland.
- Free consultation to discuss your situation.
Talk to us about controller orders
Make a controller application to support a loved one
It’s heartbreaking to see a friend or relative no longer capable of managing their affairs. It also brings enormous practical challenges. Bills might be going unpaid or property falling into disrepair because nobody is legally allowed to take care of these things.
Our controllership solicitors will help you to solve this problem. We will apply for a controller order so you can look after their finances and property on their behalf. As a controller, you’ll be able to manage everything as they would have wanted.
What can a controller do in Northern Ireland?
Once you are appointed as a controller in Northern Ireland, you will be able to manage financial and property matters on behalf of a friend or relative. This includes:
- Managing their income to meet their day-to-day needs
- Paying bills and taxes on their behalf
- Keeping their property in good condition
- Insuring their property appropriately
- Keeping documents and paperwork up to date
The Office of Care and Protection, part of the High Court in Northern Ireland, must authorise investments, property sales and other uses of assets. You will also have to submit annual accounts to the courts.
How our controllership solicitors help you
The process of applying for a Controller Order can be complicated. Our controllership solicitors will guide you every step of the way to help you protect the patient’s interests.
1. Talk to our controllership solicitors
Book a free consultation to discuss your circumstances with no obligation to proceed. Our controllership solicitors will advise on the likelihood of the courts appointing you as a controller.
2. Completing the paperwork
We will fill out the controller order forms from the Office of Care and Protection on your behalf. Legal paperwork can be confusing – our experienced solicitors will help you to complete it without any unnecessary hassle.
We will also help you secure a medical certificate confirming that your friend or relative doesn’t have the mental capacity to manage their property and finances.
3. Filing the controllership forms
We will file the controllership paperwork with the Office of Care and Protection for you. This includes returning the completed forms, the medical certificate and the application fee.
4. Appointment as a controller
If the Office of Care and Protection believes that appointing you as a controller is the right course of action, it will make a controller order. This will give you the legal power to manage the patient’s affairs.
The court will set out your duties and responsibilities – and you must manage property and finances in accordance with these instructions. But, crucially, it will become much easier to pay bills and take care of all those important matters that are difficult or even impossible to deal with at the moment.
Get in touch to start the controllership application process.
Why choose H McPartland & Sons as your controllership solicitors?
As local solicitors embedded in our communities of Lisburn and Lurgan since 1949, we’ve built decades of experience in helping families and friends protect a loved one’s best interests.
This includes expertise in making controllership applications. In many cases, controller orders are essential for keeping a friend or relative’s affairs in order. Our controllership solicitors will listen to your circumstances and advise you on the best course of action.
We offer free initial legal advice, with no obligation to proceed. Book a consultation at our offices in Lisburn or Lurgan – both of which have ample car parking – to discuss your situation. You can also arrange a home visit or phone consultation, if you prefer.
They where very efficient and attentive to our case.We where made to feel at ease and confident that our case would get their full attention
We where very happy with the outcome in the end.
Thank you Harry McPartland and Sons.
Controllership FAQs
Controllership is when you apply for a Controller Order to look after a loved one or friend’s affairs because they are no longer able to do so. Enduring power of attorney is when you have been chosen to look after these things by a loved one or friend before they lost mental capacity.
A controller order is more complicated and more expensive than a power of attorney. A power of attorney is appointed in accordance with someone’s wishes, whereas the courts appoint a controller. To become a controller, you have to prove you are suitable, report to the courts and deal with any legal disputes.
A controller order is the legal document officially appointing you as a controller for someone else’s property and finances. Also known as a controllership order, this gives you legal authority to handle income, assets and payments on behalf of a person who is no longer mentally capable of managing these things for themselves.
A controller order is made by the Office of Care and Protection, which is part of the High Court in Northern Ireland.
A controllership order is usually made to appoint a relative or close friend of the person who has lost mental capacity. In other cases, a solicitor, accountant or other professional could be appointed instead. If a professional is appointed as a controller, they can charge for their services and pay their fees from the patient’s money.
If nobody suitable to become a controller can be found, the Office of Care and Protection can appoint the Official Solicitor instead. The Official Solicitor represents people who can’t represent themselves and don’t have anybody available to represent them. In these cases, the Official Solicitor would act as a controller.
There is no legal requirement to use a solicitor for controllership applications. Anybody can get the controllership application forms from the Office of Care and Protection. But given the complexity involved in applying to be a controller and the legal demands of being a controller, many people choose to get help from a solicitor.
Using a solicitor for a controllership application speeds up the paperwork and application process. When you work with our controllership solicitors, you also benefit from the experience and expertise of legal professionals who have overseen many controller applications over the decades.
Talk to us about controller orders
Lisburn Office
- Niagara Buildings,
- Tonagh Drive,
- Lisburn,
- BT28 1DY
Hear from our previous clients
They where very efficient and attentive to our case.We where made to feel at ease and confident that our case would get their full attention
We where very happy with the outcome in the end.
Thank you Harry McPartland and Sons.
