The High Court has decided that an independent representative should manage decision-making for a woman leaving wardship rather than appointing members of her family, after serious disagreements emerged between her siblings.
The woman, identified only as O, was born in the 1970s, has a moderate intellectual disability and other physical and mental health needs, and lives in residential care. She had expressed a wish for her brother Q and sister R to act as her decision-making representatives.
However, other siblings objected. The court received competing affidavits and correspondence containing allegations about family contact, blocked phone numbers and concerns that some relatives could exclude others from O’s life. Those allegations were disputed.
Mr Justice Mark Heslin said on 27 March 2026 that the court’s starting point had to be O’s expressed wishes. But the evidence showed serious, longstanding and unresolved differences between her four siblings which directly affected their relationships with her.
The residential care provider also expressed the view that an independent person might be the most appropriate representative, while emphasising that O’s own will and preferences should remain a primary consideration.
The judge concluded that appointing an independent decision-making representative would best allow O’s wishes and preferences to be identified and followed in everyday decisions, including decisions about family contact. It would also help preserve her existing relationships.
He said appointing some siblings over others on the written evidence alone would effectively require the court to choose between sharply disputed versions of events without a full evidential hearing. That could also deepen the family conflict and negatively affect O.
The court separately accepted unchallenged psychiatric evidence that O lacks capacity to make decisions concerning personal welfare and property and affairs even with a suitable co-decision-maker.
An independent representative is therefore to be selected from the statutory panel, with nominations to be submitted for approval by the President.