The Mental Capacity Act protects and empowers people aged 16 and over who lack the mental capacity to make welfare and financial decisions in their best interests.
Who is classed as mentally incapacitated?
People covered by the Mental Capacity Act are those with severe learning disabilities, brain injuries and dementia, and those who are unconscious due to injury or illness.
Empowering people under the Mental Capacity Act
The Mental Capacity Act judges that each individual has the capacity to make their own decisions unless it is proven otherwise and it is unlawful to deprive someone of their liberty without due cause.
How UK power of attorney relates to the Mental Capacity Act
A power of attorney online such as https://powerofattorneyonline.co.uk/blog/what-happens-if-you-lose-mental-capacity/ allows people who currently have full mental capacity to appoint someone else to act on their behalf in the event that they lose mental capacity in the future and become unable to manage their own affairs.
If someone already lacks mental capacity, a deputy must be appointed by the Court of Protection. If a family member or other trusted person does not wish to assume the role of deputy, the court will appoint an independent advocate to perform this role.
Deputies and attorneys’ responsibilities
Once someone is appointed as a deputy or attorney for someone who lacks mental capacity, they are required by law to make decisions in the best interests of the incapacitated individual, abiding by their written preferences where these exist and relinquishing the responsibility if mental capacity is judged by the court to have been fully regained.