Aims and method To gain an understanding of court orders for reports under section 49 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in terms of the incidence, topics instructed, time taken, impact on working practice and well-being, and support available to psychiatrists. We used Microsoft Forms to generate an online survey. Domains within the survey included demographics, number of reports, support, clinical impact and personal well-being. Results Of the 104 psychiatrists who responded, 65.4% had been ordered to undertake a section 49 report; 51.5% of those had been asked to provide an opinion outside their subjective expertise, 25% were somewhat or fully confident in writing reports and 85% stated that they experienced stress as a result. Clinical implications There is a need for national and local regulation of the process of ordering reports under section 49, and for psychiatrists to be trained and supported by their employers.