INCAPACITY
Substitute Decision-Making
Caution: This page contains ONLY GENERAL LEGAL INFORMATION.
It is NOT LEGAL ADVICE nor a replacement for talking to a lawyer
and getting legal advice about your case.
The law can be complicated and the details of a case can be even more complicated!
There are exceptions for every rule.
What you do not know can harm you. Do not rely on general legal information.
AT YOUR OWN RISK.
If someone is unable to make decisions for them selves because of a physical or mental disability, someone else is going to have to make those decisions. This could happen because of an injury or decease. It may happen slowly or quickly.
The law does not look at this as a yes/no problem. Someone may be unable to make decisions one day and not the next. They may be able to make some decision about some matters and not others. The law presumes someone is able to make decisions for themselves, unless proven otherwise.
The authority to make decisions for someone else in to ways:
A person deal with some issues without these formal measures. For example:
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there are laws about next of kin making medical decisions; and
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some government payment can be paid to a third party.