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Nearest relative
Explains the rights and responsibilities of your nearest relative if you're sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983.
What is a nearest relative?
If you're sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983, you'll have a ‘nearest relative’ under certain sections. This person gains certain rights and responsibilities related to your time under section. The Mental Health Act sets out who your nearest relative will be.
You might feel confused or upset about being assigned a nearest relative after getting sectioned. You're not alone, and our information is here to help you.
Why do I need a nearest relative?
Nearest relative is a special term used in the Mental Health Act 1983. It gives 1 member of your family certain rights and responsibilities if you're detained under section 2, 3, 4 or 37.
Their role also applies when you're not detained in hospital, but subject to other sections of the act. For example, if you're:
- Put on a community treatment order (CTO), also called section 17A
- Placed under a guardianship in the community, also called section 7
The legal powers of your nearest relative exist to support you under any of these sections of the Mental Health Act. Your nearest relative should normally be someone who you can trust.
You need a nearest relative because they can:
- Help to make sure that your rights are protected when you're unwell
- Give you a voice outside the healthcare system
- Ensure an independent and non-professional check on your care, treatment or detention
Your nearest relative is not the same as your next of kin. Your next of kin doesn't have any specific rights under the Mental Health Act.
Understanding sectioning
To find out more about being sectioned before learning about nearest relatives, we have information to help.
Go to sectioning pagesWhat rights does my nearest relative have?
Your nearest relative's rights depend on which section you're under. For example, their rights change if you're under a detention section in hospital, compared to being under a guardianship or CTO.
Generally, your nearest relative has the right to support you by:
- Being consulted or given information about you in some situations
- Helping you get support from an independent mental health advocate (IMHA)
- Objecting to you being detained under section 3
- Objecting to you being placed under a guardianship
- Asking for you to be discharged from section 2 or 3, or a CTO
- Applying to the Mental Health Tribunal if doctors refuse to discharge you
Sometimes, your nearest relative might use their rights in ways that feel less supportive to you:
- They can ask to opt out of being your nearest relative and choose someone else to take on the role. Usually this will be the next person on the ordered list.
- They can apply for you to be admitted under section 2, 3, 4 or 7 (guardianship). But they must have medical recommendations to be able to do this.
Who will be my nearest relative?
Section 26 of the Mental Health Act 1983 sets out who your nearest relative will be.
The list is in a fixed order. This means the person highest on this list will automatically be your nearest relative:
- Husband, wife, civil partner or cohabitee of more than 6 months
- Son or daughter
- Father or mother, but an unmarried father must have parental responsibility
- Brother or sister
- Grandparent
- Grandchild
- Uncle or aunt
- Nephew or niece
Adoptive relationships follow the same order as biological relationships in this list. For example, your adoptive father or mother would be the third option on the list for nearest relative.
A nearest relative must also meet both of the following criteria:
- They must be over 18, unless they're your mother, father, husband, wife or civil partner.
- They must live in the UK, Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, unless you normally live abroad with them too.
What if nobody can be my nearest relative?
You might have nobody to be your nearest relative from the list in the Mental Health Act. If so, you can apply to your local county court to appoint someone.
In this case, your nearest relative could be a friend or an approved mental health professional (AMHP). The process is the same as displacement.
To find out more, go to our page on changing your nearest relative.
Why is my nearest relative not who I expected?
The Mental Health Act sets out an ordered list of people who should be your nearest relative. But in some situations, your appointed nearest relative might not seem to follow the list.
There are different reasons why this could happen. One or more of these might apply to you:
Under a care order, the local authority will be your nearest relative. Unless you have a husband, wife or civil partner.
For example, if you live at the same address as your ex-partner after a divorce, they will not be your nearest relative.
If this applies to you, the older person will be your nearest relative. For example, if you have 5 siblings, the eldest sibling will be your nearest relative.
If you live with a relative or a relative is your carer, they'll be higher up the list.
For example, if your sister is your main carer where you live, but you also have a father who lives elsewhere, your sister would be your nearest relative.
In this case, they'll be included at the very end of your list.
For example, if you've lived at the same address as your friend for 7 years, they'll be added after nieces or nephews. But if you also have a mum and a brother, in this situation your mum would still be your nearest relative.
Someone related to you only through a step-relationship cannot be your nearest relative. For example, a step-mother, step-father or any step-siblings related to you through a partnership, but not through blood.
However, a step-relation might qualify through being an unrelated person who you've lived with for over 5 years. In this case, they could be your nearest relative if they're over 18 and you have nobody else higher on the list.
Half-siblings could be your nearest relative, but any full siblings will take priority.
For example, if you have a 20-year-old brother and a 32-year-old half-sister, normally your older sibling would be nearest relative. But because she's your half-sister, your brother would be your nearest relative.
Section
Being 'sectioned' means that you're kept in hospital under the Mental Health Act. There are different types of sections. Each have different rules to keep you in hospital. The length of time that you can be kept in hospital depends on which section you're detained under.
See our pages on sectioning for more information.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsApproved mental health professional (AMHP)
AMHPs are mental health professionals who can carry out duties under the Mental Health Act. They've been approved by a local social services authority. They're responsible for coordinating your assessment and admission to hospital if you're sectioned.
They may be:
- Social workers
- Nurses
- Occupational therapists
- Psychologists
Guardianship
This is where someone called a 'guardian' is appointed instead of you being sectioned and kept in hospital. Your guardian could be a person or a local authority.
You can only be placed under guardianship if it's necessary for your welfare or to protect other people. Your guardian has the power to make certain decisions about you. They can also make conditions that you'll be asked to keep to. For example, where you live.
Guardianship lasts for up to 6 months. It can be renewed: initially for a further 6 months, and then for a year at a time. You can appeal to the Mental Health Tribunal once in each of these periods.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsCommunity treatment order (CTO)
If you've been sectioned and treated in hospital, your responsible clinician can put you on a CTO.
This means that they can discharge you from the section and you can leave hospital. But you might have to meet certain conditions. For example:
- Living in a certain place
- Going somewhere for medical treatment
Sometimes you could be made to go back to hospital. For example:
- If you don't follow the conditions
- If you become unwell again
See our pages on CTOs for more information.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsCohabitee
A cohabitee is person who lives with another person as if they are married, but without being legally married.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsCounty court
This is a court which deals with civil matters. Not criminal matters.
There are fees for starting a claim in the county court. But if you have a low income, you might be able to pay a reduced amount - or none at all. That's called a ‘fee remission’.
Cases in the county court are in one of 3 tracks:
- Small claims track is where you're asking for is less than £10,000 and your case isn't complicated.
- Fast track is where your case is more complicated but can be finished in a 1-day hearing
- Multi-track is where the claim will take longer than a 1-day hearing, or is for a larger sum of money.
Fast track and multi-track cases are costly. And if you don't win your case, you usually have to pay the other person’s legal costs.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsMental Health Act 1983 (MHA)
The MHA is a law that applies to England and Wales. It allows people to be detained in hospital (sectioned) if they have a mental health disorder and need treatment. You can only be kept in hospital if certain conditions are met.
See our pages on the Mental Health Act for more information.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsDetained
A person is detained if they're being kept in hospital under section and are not free to leave.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsParental responsibility
The rights and responsibilities that a parent has for a child. This might include making decisions about their upbringing and where they live. It's possible for people who are not parents of a child to get parental responsibility. For example, a court can give a grandparent or family member parental responsibility.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsMental Health Tribunal (MHT)
This is a special court that deals with cases relating to the Mental Health Act 1983. The Tribunal decides whether you can be discharged from your section. It can sometimes make recommendations about other matters. Such as hospital leave, transfer to another hospital, guardianship and community treatment orders (CTOs).
The court consists of a panel, which normally includes:
- A chairperson with a legal qualification
- A ‘lay member’ with appropriate experience and qualifications in mental health
- An independent psychiatrist. They will speak to you and examine you before the tribunal hearing in certain circumstances. Or when you request to see them
Where you see a reference to the Mental Health Tribunal in this guide, it means:
- First Tier Tribunal (Mental Health), if you live in England
- Mental Health Review Tribunal for Wales, if you live in Wales
Independent mental health advocate (IMHA)
An IMHA is an advocate. They're specially trained to help you find out your rights under the Mental Health Act 1983. And to help you while you're detained. They can listen to what you want and speak for you.
You have a right to an IMHA if you are:
- Detained in hospital under a section of the Mental Health Act, but not if you are under sections 4, 5, 135 and 136
- Under Mental Health Act guardianship, conditional discharge and community treatment orders (CTOs)
- Discussing having certain treatments, such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
In Wales, voluntary patients can also have an IMHA.
See our page on IMHAs in England and Wales for more information.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsDisplacement
Displacement is where you change your nearest relative. The process of changing the nearest relative is often known as ‘displacement proceedings’.
Your nearest relative can be displaced if you or the local authority have concerns about the way that they're behaving.
See our pages on the nearest relative for more information.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsPublished: March 2026
Next review planned: March 2029
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