A general guide on how the Mental Capacity Act affects you and how you can plan ahead for when you no longer have the mental capacity to make decisions for yourself.
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Financial decisions cover your financial affairs and business matters including:
They can also cover:
If you borrowed money when you did not have the capacity to fully understand what you were doing, the law sees this as a contract.
You have to follow the terms of the contract unless you can show that the person or organisation you borrowed money from knew or should have known that you did not have capacity at the time to make the contract with them.
If you can show this, then the contract can be cancelled and will no longer have any effect.
If you can’t show this, you should still get advice from a money advice organisation such as National Debtline or Citizens Advice Bureau to see if your repayments can be reduced or renegotiated.
If you lose capacity before making a will, you cannot name a person to write a will for you. Even an attorney you have named in a lasting power of attorney would be unable to do this. Only the Court of Protection can do this in certain circumstances.
So you should try to make a will while you still have the capacity to do so. If you can, get advice from a solicitor who specialises in wills or from a professional who has a licence to write wills professionally for other people.
If you haven't made a lasting power of attorney, the Court of Protection can:
If you are on benefits, an appointee appointed by the Department for Work and Pensions could also help manage your welfare benefits, rent payments or mortgage payments. However, the risk is that this may be someone you would not choose yourself.
If you want to plan ahead for when you will no longer have capacity to make decisions for yourself, you could consider making:
A lasting power of attorney is a legal document that lets you appoint someone, called an attorney, to make decisions for you.
See our pages on the Mental Capacity Act for more information.
See our full list of legal terms.An appointee is someone appointed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to help manage your benefits for you if you lose capacity to manage them yourself.
See our full list of legal terms.A deputy is a person the Court of Protection appoints to make decisions for you once you have lost capacity to make them yourself. A deputy usually makes decisions about finances and property. The court can appoint a deputy to take healthcare and personal care decisions, though this is relatively rare.
See our full list of legal terms.The Court of Protection makes decisions and appoints deputies to act on your behalf if you are unable to make decisions about your personal health, finance or welfare.
See our pages on the Mental Capacity Act for more information.
See our full list of legal terms.An attorney is a person over the age of 18 whom you have appointed to make decisions on your behalf about your welfare and/or your property and financial affairs. You need an attorney if you are unable to make such decisions yourself. If you do not have the capacity to appoint an attorney, the Court of Protection will appoint a deputy to perform this role.
See our pages on the Mental Capacity Act for more information.
See our full list of legal terms.'Capacity' means the ability to understand information and make decisions about your life. Sometimes it can also mean the ability to communicate decisions about your life.
For example, if you do not understand the information and are unable to make a decision about your treatment, you are said to 'lack capacity' to make decisions about your treatment.
See our pages on the Mental Capacity Act for more information.
See our full list of legal terms.This information was published in November 2017.
This page is currently under review. All content was accurate when published.
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