How to fill in form COP3 — the assessment of capacity
COP3 is the Court of Protection's capacity-assessment form — filed with a COP1 application, never alone.
This walkthrough splits it the way it's actually completed: Part A (yours, the applicant's) question by question, then exactly what to hand your GP or assessor so Part B comes back usable the first time.
United Kingdom·Informational, not legal or financial advice·Verified against GOV.UK, 2026
This walkthrough takes COP3 the way it's actually completed: Part A first, then what to hand your GP or assessor — so the professional half of the form goes as smoothly as the half you control.
A general capacity opinion isn't COP3 — it has to be decision-specific
Section 6 asks the assessor to work through understand / retain / use-and-weigh / communicate for EACH decision named in Question 2.1 — not to give one blended opinion that the person 'lacks capacity'.
A letter from a GP that simply says 'this patient has dementia and lacks capacity' is not the same thing, and courts routinely query or reject a COP3 that reads that way. The fix starts in Part A: name the actual decisions precisely in 2.1, so the assessor has something specific to assess against in Section 6.
The second common trap is timing — gov.uk only says the assessment must 'contain current information', with no fixed number of months. Leave too long a gap between Part B being signed and the wider COP1 application being filed, and the Court can ask for it to be redone.
The form, in summary
Valoren
COP3·19 pages·22 fields guided
With ValorenPart A itself takes 20–30 minutes once the decisions and your circumstances are already written down. Booking and briefing the assessor isn't something Valoren can do for you — this is the one Court of Protection step that always needs an independent professional's own appointment.
Without Valoren2–6 weeks
, typically — most of the delay is booking the GP's or professional's time, not completing the form itself
Deadline
Nonemust contain current information
Who Files
Applicant + assessorPart A: you · Part B: GP or care professional
£
Fee
Freeno separate fee — rides on the COP1 fee
Filed with Court of Protection (with your COP1 application)
COP3 exists to give the Court of Protection independent evidence that someone genuinely lacks the mental capacity to make a specific decision — not a general opinion that they 'have dementia' or 'aren't coping'.
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 sets a two-stage test (ss.1-3): first, is there an impairment or disturbance in the functioning of the mind or brain; second, does that impairment mean the person cannot understand, retain, use and weigh the relevant information, or communicate their decision, for THIS specific decision. Part B of COP3 walks the assessor through both stages question by question (Section 6, questions 6.1-6.8).
Part A (yours) and Part B (the assessor's) are both required before the Court will treat the assessment as evidence — a form with only Part A completed proves nothing on its own. The assessor signs a statement of truth at Section 7; the form warns that proceedings for contempt of court can follow a false statement made without honest belief in its truth.
COP3 is never filed on its own. It accompanies the COP1 application (and, for a property and financial affairs deputyship, COP1A and COP4) — see Valoren's COP1 walkthrough for the wider application.
·Who Files — Part A: the applicant for a Court of Protection order (or their solicitor). Part B: an independent 'appropriate assessor' — typically a GP, another doctor, or a qualified social care professional. Only the assessor may complete and sign Part B.
·19 pages · 22 fields guided
·Draws from your Estate File — Medical Abstract, Civil Dossier, People, Authority & Contacts
Section01
§11
Section 1
Before you start — Part A, Part B, and when COP3 is needed
COP3 is not the application itself — it's the evidence that supports one. Getting the two-part split right, and understanding what Part B is (and isn't) asking, saves a wasted trip to the GP.
01
What COP3 actually proves
COP3 exists to show the Court that the person named ('P' throughout Court of Protection paperwork) genuinely lacks capacity for the SPECIFIC decision the application is about — not capacity in general.
It is always filed together with the main COP1 application form, never on its own.
02
The two-part split
Part A (Sections 1-3) is completed by you — the applicant, or your solicitor. It names the person, states what decision needs to be made, and explains why an order is necessary.
Part B (Sections 4-7) can only be completed by an independent professional with relevant expertise — gov.uk calls this an 'appropriate assessor', giving medical practitioners and social care professionals as examples. You hand the form to them once Part A is finished; they complete the rest and return it to you.
03
When you actually need this form
COP3 supports any Court of Protection application where lack of capacity is the reason the Court needs to get involved — most commonly a Property & Financial Affairs deputyship (alongside COP1, COP1A and COP4), but also welfare applications and one-off orders for a single decision.
If the person already has a valid, registered Lasting Power of Attorney (or a registered Enduring Power of Attorney made before October 2007), you don't need this route — the attorney already has authority. COP3/COP1 is the fallback for when no valid power of attorney exists.
04
What Part B is not
Part B isn't a diagnosis form and doesn't ask the assessor to certify a medical condition on its own terms. Sections 6.1-6.8 ask the assessor to work through the Mental Capacity Act's own test, decision by decision — whether the person can understand, retain, use/weigh the relevant information, and communicate a decision, and only then whether an impairment of the mind or brain explains why not.
A letter simply stating 'this patient has dementia and lacks capacity' is not the same thing, and the Court will not accept it in place of a properly completed COP3.
COP3 is not the application itself — it's the evidence that supports one. Getting the two-part split right, and understanding what Part B is (and isn't) asking, saves a wasted trip to the GP.
Court of Protection (HM Courts & Tribunals Service) · COP3❦
Section02
§22
Section 2
Part A, Section 1-2 — the person, and the decision(s) needed
Small mismatches here — a name spelled differently from the COP1 application, a decision described too vaguely — are a common reason the Court comes back for clarification.
01
Section 1 — identifying the person to be assessed
Title, first name, middle name(s), last name, address (including postcode), and telephone number for the person the application concerns — referred to throughout the rest of the form as 'the person'.
Use the details exactly as they'd appear on the person's own official documents; this is cross-checked against the COP1 application it's filed alongside.
02
Question 2.1 — what decision(s) need to be made
Be specific, and number each one if there's more than one — this numbering is reused later in Sections 5 and 6, so the assessor addresses each decision separately rather than giving one blended answer.
'Whether P can manage their property and financial affairs' is too broad on its own; naming the actual live decisions works better — for example, '1. Whether to sell [address]. 2. Whether to agree to a care home placement.'
03
Question 2.2 — the order you're asking the Court to make
State the order in the same terms you've used on COP1 — for example, appointing you as property and financial affairs deputy, or a one-off order authorising a specific transaction.
Mismatches between what COP1 asks for and what COP3 Section 2.2 describes are a common reason the Court sends an application back for clarification.
04
Question 2.3 — your relationship or connection to the person
State plainly how you know the person — spouse, child, sibling, professional deputy, or similar. This gives the assessor (and later the Court) context for your standing to apply, alongside the fuller suitability questions COP1 and COP4 cover.
Small mismatches here — a name spelled differently from the COP1 application, a decision described too vaguely — are a common reason the Court comes back for clarification.
Court of Protection (HM Courts & Tribunals Service) · COP3❦
Section03
§33
Section 3
Part A, Section 3 — supporting the person's own decision-making first
The Mental Capacity Act requires every practicable step to help someone decide for themselves to be tried — and to fail — before anyone is treated as unable to decide. Section 3 is where you show that's genuinely been considered.
01
Question 3.1 — practicable steps that might help the person decide themselves
List what's realistically available — large-print or simplified materials, a familiar setting, a trusted person present, more time, sign language or an interpreter.
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of Practice (Chapter 3, referenced directly on the form) gives fuller guidance; the Court expects this box to show genuine thought, not a token 'none' answer.
02
Question 3.2 — further information about the person's circumstances
This is where you set out anything the assessor needs to form their opinion, and — critically — why a Court order is actually necessary. For a property and finances application, gov.uk's own guidance suggests including the general financial picture here.
If you send the assessor a separate covering letter with this detail instead, a copy of that letter must also go to the Court when the application is filed — it can't exist only in the assessor's own file.
03
What happens once Part A is finished
You (or your solicitor) hand the form to the professional who will complete Part B. Gov.uk's own instruction is explicit: they return it to you once done, and it's then filed with the COP1 application and anything else the Court requires — Part A is never submitted on its own.
The Mental Capacity Act requires every practicable step to help someone decide for themselves to be tried — and to fail — before anyone is treated as unable to decide. Section 3 is where you show that's genuinely been considered.
Court of Protection (HM Courts & Tribunals Service) · COP3❦
Section04
§44
Section 4
Choosing and briefing the assessor for Part B
Part B can only be completed by someone with relevant professional expertise — and it goes far more smoothly when they're given a properly finished Part A to work from, not a verbal summary.
01
Who can be an 'appropriate assessor'
Gov.uk gives medical practitioners and social care professionals as examples — in practice, usually the person's own GP, a hospital consultant, a psychiatrist, or a social worker who knows them.
There's no fixed list of approved job titles; instead, Section 4.3 requires the assessor to set out their own qualifications, training and practical experience of assessing capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, so the Court judges suitability case by case.
02
Section 4.2 — the conflict-of-interest declaration
The assessor must state the nature of their professional relationship with the person and confirm they're giving their opinion free from conflict of interest.
A GP or consultant with an existing clinical relationship is the norm and isn't itself a conflict — the declaration is aimed at ruling out anyone with a personal or financial stake in the outcome.
03
What to give the assessor before they start
The completed Part A, so they know exactly which decision(s) they're being asked about — and, separately if needed, the further-circumstances information from Question 3.2.
A GP working from a vague verbal request ('can you write a letter saying Mum lacks capacity') is far more likely to produce something the Court queries than one working from a properly completed Part A.
04
Timing — book this early
GP and consultant appointments for anything beyond a routine visit often run to several weeks' wait.
Because the assessment needs to 'contain current information' by the time the wider COP1 application is filed, leaving this step until everything else is ready is where an otherwise-prepared application quietly loses weeks.
Part B can only be completed by someone with relevant professional expertise — and it goes far more smoothly when they're given a properly finished Part A to work from, not a verbal summary.
Court of Protection (HM Courts & Tribunals Service) · COP3❦
Section05
§55
Section 5
Part B — the capacity test itself (Section 6)
This is the substantive core of the whole form — the questions that turn 'I think they can't cope any more' into evidence a court can actually rely on.
01
Section 5 — relevant information (context the assessor sets out, not you)
Before the yes/no questions, the assessor first sets out — for each numbered decision from 2.1 — the 'relevant information' the person would need to understand, retain, use and weigh: what the decision actually is, the options, the consequences of each option, and the consequences of not deciding at all.
Everything in Section 6 is judged against this list.
02
Question 6.1 — can the person make the decision(s)?
A straight yes/no per decision. If the answer is mixed — capacity for some decisions but not others — the assessor lists exactly which ones they cannot make.
This is where a 'general' opinion falls down: capacity is decision-specific, and the Court expects that specificity reflected here.
03
Questions 6.2-6.5 — the four-part functional test
Can the person understand the relevant information (6.2)? Retain it long enough to use it (6.3)? Use and weigh it as part of the decision (6.4)? Communicate their decision, by any means (6.5)? Each requires a yes/no plus a written explanation — and if there's more than one decision, the explanation covers each one using the same numbering as 2.1.
A person can fail on just one of these four elements and still be found to lack capacity for that decision — the assessor doesn't need to answer 'no' on all four.
04
Questions 6.6-6.7 — support given, and what's left to try
6.6 asks what support the assessor actually gave to help the person understand (an explanation adapted to their circumstances, for example) and how they responded. 6.7 asks for any further practicable steps that haven't been tried yet.
These exist because a person is not to be treated as unable to decide unless all practicable steps to help them decide have already failed — the Act doesn't allow capacity to be assessed in a vacuum.
05
Question 6.8 — the diagnostic link
Only once the functional test has failed does the form ask whether that's because of an impairment or disturbance in the functioning of the mind or brain — and if so, what the impairment is, how long it's lasted, any formal diagnosis, and crucially why that impairment explains the inability to decide.
The form is explicit that a diagnosis alone (dementia, for example) doesn't automatically mean incapacity — the causal link between the diagnosis and the specific decision has to be spelled out.
This is the substantive core of the whole form — the questions that turn 'I think they can't cope any more' into evidence a court can actually rely on.
Court of Protection (HM Courts & Tribunals Service) · COP3❦
Section06
§66
Section 6
How the assessment was carried out, and the sign-off (6.9–7)
01
Question 6.9 — the assessor's basis for the opinion
Either (a) they've acted as the person's practitioner since a given date and last assessed them on a given date, or (b) they carried out a one-off assessment on a specific date following a referral, which they describe.
This tells the Court whether the opinion comes from an ongoing clinical relationship or a single assessment commissioned for this application.
02
Question 6.10 — in person or remote
In-person is the default. A remote assessment is allowed, but the assessor must explain why, and what steps they took to support the person to take part remotely — a documented exception, not a shortcut.
03
Questions 6.11-6.13 — prognosis, the person's own views, and anything else
6.11 asks whether there's a realistic prospect the person could regain or acquire capacity for this decision in future, and roughly when.
6.12 records any views the person has expressed about the matter, even without capacity to decide it themselves — the Court still wants to hear their voice. 6.13 is open space for anything else relevant.
04
Section 7 — the statement of truth
The assessor signs, confirming the facts stated are true, with an explicit warning that proceedings for contempt of court can follow a false statement made without honest belief in its truth. This is the point at which the form becomes usable evidence — an unsigned Part B is not.
05
What happens next
Gov.uk's own instruction: the assessor returns the completed form to the applicant or their solicitor, who should keep a copy for their records. It's then filed with the COP1 application — see Valoren's COP1 walkthrough for the full deputyship application, including COP1A (finances) and COP4 (your declaration).
Court of Protection (HM Courts & Tribunals Service) · COP3❦
Many people file COP3 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
COP3 questions, answered.
01What is form COP3 used for?›
COP3 ('Assessment of capacity') is the evidence the Court of Protection needs to confirm someone genuinely lacks the mental capacity to make the specific decision an application concerns.
It's filed together with the main COP1 application — not on its own — and has two parts: Part A, completed by the applicant, sets out the decision(s) in question; Part B, completed by an independent professional, gives their opinion on capacity.
02Who completes Part A and who completes Part B of COP3?›
Part A is completed by whoever is making the application (or their solicitor) — it names the person to be assessed, the decision(s) that need to be made, and the order being asked for.
Part B can only be completed by an 'appropriate assessor': someone with relevant professional expertise, such as a GP, another medical practitioner, or a qualified social care professional. A family member cannot complete Part B, even if they're certain the person lacks capacity.
03Who counts as an 'appropriate assessor' for COP3?›
The form gives medical practitioners and social care professionals as examples. Section 4.3 requires the assessor to set out their own qualifications, training and practical experience of assessing capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 — so the court checks suitability case by case rather than from a fixed list of job titles.
In practice this is usually the person's GP, a consultant, a psychiatrist, or a social worker who knows them.
04Does COP3 have its own fee or deadline?›
No — COP3 doesn't carry a separate court fee or filing deadline; it's submitted together with the COP1 application, which does have a fee (£432, plus £100 if a new deputy is being assessed, and £266 if a hearing is listed).
The form does require the assessment to 'contain current information', so leaving a long gap between completing COP3 and filing COP1 risks the court asking for it to be redone.
05What happens if the assessor decides the person CAN make the decision?›
Then Part B says so at Question 6.1 — and the Court of Protection generally has no role, because the person is legally entitled to make that decision themselves.
If they can make some decisions but not others, the assessor lists exactly which ones they cannot make, and the application proceeds only for those.
06Can COP3 be completed remotely, without seeing the person in person?›
Yes — Question 6.10 explicitly allows this, but the assessor must explain why the assessment was remote and what steps were taken to support the person to take part.
An in-person assessment is the default; remote is the documented exception, not a shortcut.
07What happens to COP3 after Part B is completed?›
The assessor returns the completed form to the applicant or their solicitor. It's then filed with the COP1 application (and COP1A and COP4, for a property and financial affairs deputyship) — the Court of Protection does not accept COP3 on its own.
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Where this fits
COP3 is one form. The file behind it is the rest.
COP3 asks for exactly what the Medical Abstract and People, Authority & Contacts records are built to hold — the person's registered GP, any diagnosis already on file, and who else needs to be told. Part A takes minutes instead of a blank-page start when that's already written down; Part B still needs a real appointment with a real professional, which no record shortens.
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Court of Protection (HM Courts & Tribunals Service)·22 fields·No separate fee — rides on the COP1 application fee (£432, plus £100 if a new deputy is being assessed, £266 if a hearing is listed).·Part A itself takes 20–30 minutes once the decisions and your circumstances are already written down. Booking and briefing the assessor isn't something Valoren can do for you — this is the one Court of Protection step that always needs an independent professional's own appointment. with Valoren
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