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How to fill in form COP24 — giving a witness statement to the Court of Protection

COP24 is the Court of Protection's standard witness statement — the form anyone giving evidence about a person who lacks capacity (referred to on the form as 'P') uses to put that evidence formally before the court.

It's short by design: four pages, with the drafting rules printed on the form itself rather than in a separate guidance document, closing with a statement of truth the witness signs personally.

This walkthrough covers the identifying header on page 1, the numbered statement in Box 4 — including the own-knowledge/belief distinction and how to reference an exhibit — and the statement of truth that closes the form, alongside when COP25 (affidavit) applies instead.

✓ Official source checked 23 August 2026 · GOV.UK last revised this form 7 May 2020COP24 on GOV.UK
Caring for a Parent — £79
Free
United KingdomInformational, not legal or financial adviceOfficial source: GOV.UK
Official form · always current

This is the same official COP24 file HM Courts & Tribunals Service publishes on GOV.UK — the link below fetches the current version live from GOV.UK the moment you click it, so it can never go out of date.

Current version: May 2020 · confirmed on GOV.UK 23 August 2026

This walkthrough takes COP24 the way it's actually completed: the identifying header first, then the statement itself — with the one thing the form insists on throughout: saying plainly what you know first-hand, and what you've been told.

COP24 is for a witness statement — if the court directed an affidavit, this is the wrong form
The form's own 'Please read first' notes say it plainly: if the Court of Protection has directed that evidence be given by affidavit, use form COP25 instead — not COP24. Filing the wrong one can mean the evidence isn't properly before the court in the form the order actually required.

Inside the statement itself, the same read-first notes require every numbered paragraph to make clear whether it comes from your own knowledge or from information or belief — and, where it's the latter, to say what the source is. Blending the two without saying which is which is exactly the kind of gap PD14A and rule 14.7 are there to catch.
The form, in summary
Valoren
COP244 pages14 fields guided
With ValorenValoren doesn't complete or file COP24 on your behalf — the facts and dates already held in your records give you a starting structure for the numbered paragraphs, rather than a blank page
Without Valoren1–2 hours
to draft, once you know which paragraphs are your own knowledge and which are information or belief — longer if exhibits need gathering and labelling
Deadline
Court's own timetableno fixed statutory
number of days
Who Files
Any witnessfamily, carer, deputy,
attorney or professional
£
Fee
Freeevidence within existing
proceedings, not a filing fee
Filed with Court of Protection
Draws from your Estate File
the records this form is built from
PersonalCivil Dossier·Medical Abstract·Digital Access Map·Financial Accounts·Asset Inventory·Income & Outgoings·Policy Index·Legal Instruments·Property Folio·Succession Plan·Digital Legacy Registry·Business Interests & Directorships·Funeral & Committal Wishes·Dependent Care & Handoff·Personal Record·RegistryPeople, Authority & Contacts·Master Registry·Renewal Register·Designated Places·Kinship & Succession Map·SecureAccess Controls·Recovery Routes·Custody & Contingency·EventsDeath & Estate Activation·Incapacity & Medical Proxy·Absence & Continuity Cover·Access Loss & Identity Recovery·Legal Dispute & Evidence Protocol·Theft & Asset Compromise·Property Damage & Incident Response·Relocation & Address Update Protocol·Separation & Custody Documentation·Business Interruption & Continuity·PersonalCivil Dossier·Medical Abstract·Digital Access Map·Financial Accounts·Asset Inventory·Income & Outgoings·Policy Index·Legal Instruments·Property Folio·Succession Plan·Digital Legacy Registry·Business Interests & Directorships·Funeral & Committal Wishes·Dependent Care & Handoff·Personal Record·RegistryPeople, Authority & Contacts·Master Registry·Renewal Register·Designated Places·Kinship & Succession Map·SecureAccess Controls·Recovery Routes·Custody & Contingency·EventsDeath & Estate Activation·Incapacity & Medical Proxy·Absence & Continuity Cover·Access Loss & Identity Recovery·Legal Dispute & Evidence Protocol·Theft & Asset Compromise·Property Damage & Incident Response·Relocation & Address Update Protocol·Separation & Custody Documentation·Business Interruption & Continuity·
Legal basisStatute

COP24 — 'Witness statement' — is the standard way anyone gives written evidence to the Court of Protection about a person who lacks, or is alleged to lack, mental capacity (referred to throughout the form as 'P').

It's built to be self-contained: page 1 carries its own 'Please read first' notes rather than pointing to a separate guidance document, covering how to identify exhibits, how to make a correction, and where fuller requirements sit (Practice Direction 14A). Rule 14.7 of the Court of Protection Rules 2017 requires a witness statement to carry a statement of truth and comply with that practice direction — COP24 is HMCTS's printed version of that requirement.

COP24 is not the only way to give evidence: if the court has specifically directed evidence by affidavit, the correct form is COP25, not COP24 — the form says so directly. And it has no role once someone has died: P is alive throughout a Court of Protection matter, which places COP24 in the capacity/deputyship track that can run alongside, or ahead of, a family's later estate administration — not inside it.

Section by section

The form, section by section.

Before you start, you’ll need:
  • Who Files — Anyone giving evidence to the Court of Protection about P. In practice that's most often a family member or informal carer supporting a deputyship application, a professional deputy, an attorney under an LPA, or a solicitor acting for a party — but it also covers a social worker or other local-authority professional, a care home manager or clinician giving evidence on P's condition, or any other party or witness to the proceedings, including an objecting relative. It is not an executor or administrator form: P is alive but lacks capacity, so this sits in the capacity/deputyship track, not probate.
  • 4 pages · 14 fields guided
  • Draws from your Estate File — Civil Dossier, People, Authority & Contacts, Medical Abstract
Section 1

Before you complete COP24 — what it's for, and when to use COP25 instead

COP24 has one narrow purpose. Confirm it's the right form, and who's actually giving the evidence, before drafting the statement itself.

A witness statement, not an affidavit

COP24 is for written evidence given as a witness statement. If the Court of Protection has directed evidence be given by affidavit instead, the form itself says to use COP25 — not COP24. Check any order or directions in the proceedings before you start drafting.

Who can be the witness

Anyone with relevant evidence about P — a family member or informal carer, a professional deputy, an attorney under an LPA, a solicitor acting for a party, a social worker or other local-authority professional, a care home manager or clinician, or any other party or witness to the proceedings, including someone objecting to the application.

No fixed filing deadline — the court sets the timetable

Unlike many HMCTS forms, COP24 carries no universal statutory number of days. Rule 14.6/14.7 of the Court of Protection Rules 2017 set what the evidence has to look like, not when it's due — that comes from the court's own case management directions in your specific matter.

This is a capacity form, not a probate one

P — the person the statement is about — is alive throughout. COP24 belongs to the deputyship/capacity track that can run before or alongside a family's later estate administration; it has no role once someone has died.

COP24 has one narrow purpose. Confirm it's the right form, and who's actually giving the evidence, before drafting the statement itself.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (Court of Protection) · COP24
Section 2

Page 1 — the identifying header, and the read-first rules

Page 1 is entirely identification and ground rules, printed on the form itself rather than in a separate guidance leaflet.

The header box

Top right: your name as the witness; which numbered statement this is if you've given more than one in the case (1st, 2nd, 3rd or Other); who the statement is filed on behalf of; and the date it was made.

Case number, and 'P'

Left column: the case number, if known, and the full name of the person the application relates to — glossed on the form itself as 'this is the person who lacks, or is alleged to lack, capacity.' Use the name exactly as it appears elsewhere in the bundle.

The rules printed on the page

Any written evidence should be included in or attached to this form. Any alteration must be initialled. A document referred to in the statement is an 'exhibit' and must be identified, with its first page carrying the same case-identifying information as this header box. Continuation sheets are allowed if you need more space, each carrying the same identifying box.

What the notes don't cover

The form points to gov.uk/court-of-protection for wider guidance and states plainly that Court of Protection staff cannot give legal advice. If you're unsure whether COP24 is even the right form for your situation, that's a question for a solicitor or the court itself, not the form's own notes.

Page 1 is entirely identification and ground rules, printed on the form itself rather than in a separate guidance leaflet.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (Court of Protection) · COP24
Section 3

Page 2 — the statement itself (Boxes 1 to 4)

This is the substantive part: who you are, in what capacity, and then the numbered paragraphs of evidence.

Boxes 1–2 — your name and occupation

Your full name, then your occupation or a short description of who you are — the two opening facts the fixed wording 'I, [name]...' builds from.

Box 3 — your address, or your professional position

Your full address including postcode — or, if you're making the statement in a professional or work capacity, your position, your employer's name and your work address instead. Two ticks follow: whether you are a party to the proceedings, or employed by a party to the proceedings. A social worker giving evidence for a local authority, for example, ticks 'employed by a party' and gives their work role and address, not a home address.

Box 4 — the statement, in numbered paragraphs

The form's own instructions: set the statement out in numbered paragraphs, and for each one make clear whether you're speaking from your own knowledge or from information or belief — and if the latter, say what the source is. Where you refer to a document, name it as an exhibit using the model phrasing on the form: 'I refer to the [description of document] marked Exhibit A...'

Getting the exhibit reference right

Every document you mention needs a matching exhibit label, and that document's own first page needs to carry the same case-identifying information as the header box on page 1. A stray attachment with no label and no matching reference risks not being treated as properly exhibited at all.

This is the substantive part: who you are, in what capacity, and then the numbered paragraphs of evidence.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (Court of Protection) · COP24
Section 4

Pages 3–4 — continuing the statement, and the statement of truth

Most real statements run longer than page 2 allows. The form is built for that, and closes with one fixed piece of wording.

Page 3 — continuing Box 4

A large ruled box for the statement to carry on 'over' from page 2 — most genuine witness statements need it. If even that isn't enough space, use a continuation sheet carrying the same identifying header from page 1.

Page 4 — the statement of truth

Fixed wording: 'I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.' Signed personally by the witness — never by an agent — with your name and the date underneath.

Typed signatures are allowed

The form's 07 May 2020 amendment widened the Signed field specifically to permit a typed signature, not only a handwritten one, reflecting the shift to remote signing from that period. Either way, it has to be the witness's own signature, not someone signing on their behalf.

Where it goes next

The form's own instruction: return the completed witness statement to the Court of Protection. There's no separate filing fee — this is evidence within proceedings that are already open, not a new application.

Most real statements run longer than page 2 allows. The form is built for that, and closes with one fixed piece of wording.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (Court of Protection) · COP24

Many people file COP24 themselves — that is what this walkthrough is for. If the situation behind it has stopped being simple — an objection raised, a donor whose capacity is questioned, a Court of Protection application in view — Signum, Valoren’s own specialist desk, can take it on, and we say so plainly: it starts with a free intake, and if you do not need us, we will tell you. Prefer an independent adviser? STEP and the Chartered Institute of Taxation both keep public member directories, and neither pays Valoren a referral fee.

FAQ

COP24 questions, answered.

COP24 lets anyone giving evidence to the Court of Protection about a person who lacks, or is alleged to lack, mental capacity put that evidence before the court in writing — as a witness statement.

It's commonly used by family members, informal carers, deputies, attorneys, solicitors, social workers and clinicians.
COP24 is a witness statement. COP25 is an affidavit — sworn evidence.

The form itself says to use COP25 only if the Court of Protection has specifically directed evidence be given by affidavit; otherwise, COP24 is the correct form.
There's no fixed statutory number of days printed on the form or set by the rules. Filing and service timing is set case-by-case, by the court's own directions or timetable in the specific proceedings — check the order in your matter rather than assuming a standard window.
The form's drafting instructions ask you to make clear, paragraph by paragraph, whether each fact is something you witnessed or know directly, or something you were told or believe — and, for the latter, to say where that information came from.

A statement that blends the two without distinguishing them is weaker evidence, and the practice direction behind rule 14.7 exists partly to stop that happening.
Identify it as an exhibit — for example, 'I refer to the [description of document] marked Exhibit A' — and make sure the exhibit's own first page carries the same case-identifying information shown in the box at the top right of COP24's page 1.

An attachment with no exhibit label and no matching case reference risks not being treated as properly exhibited.
Yes, but any alteration must be initialled by you, the witness — the form's read-first notes require this. An uninitialled correction can call the document's integrity into question.
The 07 May 2020 edition of COP24 widened the Signed field to allow a typed signature, not only a handwritten one — reflecting remote-signing practice from that period. Either way, the statement of truth must be signed by the witness personally, never by an agent.

Library

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Capacity Action Pack

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Where this fits

COP24 is one form. The file behind it is the rest.

COP24's own-knowledge paragraphs draw on exactly what Civil Dossier and Medical Abstract are built to hold — the dated facts, care notes and prior correspondence a witness statement needs to reference precisely — while People, Authority & Contacts keeps the case's other parties and their roles straight across a bundle that, unlike COP1's, often runs to several separate witnesses.

For the household where a parent is ageing and an LPA is not yet registered — the planning conversations your family needs to have, in one place. Caring for a Parent — £79

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (Court of Protection)14 fieldsNo fee — COP24 is evidence filed within existing Court of Protection proceedings, not a new application in its own right.Valoren doesn't complete or file COP24 on your behalf — the facts and dates already held in your records give you a starting structure for the numbered paragraphs, rather than a blank page with Valoren
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