Author and Publication
Author: Nellie Supports Ltd
Publication Date: 15/05/2026
Citation
The Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987, SI 1987/2024. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987/2024/contents
Copywright
Copyright © 2026 Nellie Supports Ltd. All rights reserved.
This article is made available for general information, education and professional reference. It may be downloaded, printed and shared for non-commercial purposes, provided that it is reproduced in full, is not altered in any way, and is properly cited as the work of Nellie Supports Ltd. This material must not be edited, adapted, sold, republished, incorporated into commercial products, or used for commercial training, assessment, report-writing or advisory services without prior written permission from Nellie Supports Ltd.
This article does not constitute legal advice, clinical advice or a substitute for a decision-specific professional assessment. Where legislation, government guidance, court forms or external professional materials are referred to, those materials remain subject to their own copyright, licensing and re-use terms.
Who can complete a PA14 medical certificate?
The PA14 medical certificate is completed by a professional who has assessed the person, such as a doctor or a suitably experienced mental capacity assessor, confirming that the person is unable to manage their property and financial affairs. What the probate registry needs is credible professional evidence: the assessor should identify their qualifications, their knowledge of the person, the basis of the assessment and the reasons for the conclusion. A rushed signature with no real assessment behind it is where PA14s go wrong. This guide explains who is suitable, what the completing professional should record and when an independent assessor is the better route.
What the form expects of its author
The PA14 is completed by a practitioner able to speak to the person's condition and its effect on their capacity for the estate role: the form contemplates a medical or suitably qualified practitioner with genuine knowledge of the person, whether from ongoing care or from an assessment conducted for the purpose. The registry's real concern is substantiation, an author who can stand behind what the certificate says if queried, and that concern should guide the choice more than any job title.
The GP as the traditional author
The person's GP is the traditional and often the simplest choice: they hold the records, know the history and can frequently certify from established clinical knowledge. The familiar obstacle is that many practices now decline this work or take weeks to return it, through workload rather than unwillingness, and probate timetables suffer accordingly. Where the GP can complete it promptly and substantively, that route remains sound; where they cannot, the application should not simply wait.
Specialists and treating clinicians
Where the person is under specialist care, old age psychiatry, neurology, a memory service, the treating clinician can be well placed to complete the form, particularly where recent cognitive assessment exists in the notes. The considerations are recency and specificity: a specialist who last saw the person a year ago, or whose knowledge is of the condition rather than of its effect on managing an estate, should be supported by a current decision-specific assessment rather than asked to stretch stale knowledge across the gap.
Independent assessors and when they are the better route
An independent capacity assessor, instructed for the purpose, is often the practical answer: visiting promptly, assessing the person against the estate role specifically and producing both the completed certificate and the fuller report that substantiates it. This route suits the common situations, a GP who has declined, a contested family, a substantial estate, a timetable that cannot absorb weeks of waiting, and it delivers evidence built for scrutiny rather than a signature extracted from a crowded surgery.
Recency and the basis of knowledge
Whoever completes the form, the certificate is only as good as the currency of its basis. Capacity is time-specific, conditions move and a certificate resting on an assessment or consultation from months past invites the question of what has changed since. The safe practice is an assessment or review close to the application, with the form stating plainly when the person was last seen and on what basis the opinion rests, so the registry's likeliest query is answered before it is asked.
Independence and family dynamics
PA14 situations frequently involve the person's own family taking the grant in their place, and where relations are strained, the choice of author matters doubly. A certificate arranged, briefed and delivered entirely through the family member who benefits from it is vulnerable however sound its content, and an author independent of the application's beneficiaries, seeing the person alone and stating how the instruction arose, protects the certificate, the applicant and the person alike.
When the completing practitioner should ask for more
A practitioner asked to complete a PA14 should feel free to say the basis is insufficient: that they have not seen the person recently enough, that the estate role's demands need a proper assessment or that the family conflict around the application calls for independent evidence. Asking for a decision-specific assessment before certifying is not obstruction; it is exactly the judgement that separates a certificate that survives queries from one that generates them.
Choosing the author in practice
The practical sequence: ask the GP first where the relationship is current and the practice is willing and prompt; use the treating specialist where recent relevant assessment exists in their notes; instruct an independent assessor where neither route is available, timely or sufficiently independent, or where the estate or the family makes challenge foreseeable. In every route, confirm the author will substantiate the certificate if the registry asks, because that willingness is the real qualification.
Key takeaway
The PA14 can be completed by any practitioner able to substantiate it, GP, treating specialist or independent assessor, and the choice turns on recency of knowledge, independence from the application's beneficiaries and the timetable the estate can bear. Choose the author who can stand behind the certificate on current, decision-specific grounds, and the form does its quiet work without ever being questioned.
Frequently asked questions
Does a diagnosis automatically mean someone lacks capacity?
No. A diagnosis may explain why capacity is in doubt, but it does not answer the legal question. The assessment must still consider the specific decision, the relevant information, the support provided and whether the person can understand, retain, use or weigh that information and communicate a decision.
What evidence is useful for PA14 Probate Mental Capacity Assessment?
The completing professional's own evidence base: their qualifications, when and how they assessed the person, the records they considered and the reasoning for the conclusion. A certificate that shows its working is rarely questioned.
When is a formal assessment for PA14 Probate Mental Capacity Assessment useful?
An independent professional assessment is the better route where the GP is unavailable or declines, where the incapacity is disputed or borderline, or where the estate's size means the certificate needs evidence of real depth behind it.
Related mental capacity assessment pages
These internal links help readers move from this guide to the most relevant Nellie Supports service page, assessment option or legal framework page.
Need a PA14 completed properly?
Nellie Supports completes PA14 probate capacity assessments across England and Wales, with a same working day response to every enquiry and every report peer reviewed before delivery. Call 0333 987 5118 or visit the PA14 probate assessment service page.