Adults with incapacity

The Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 helps safeguard the welfare and finances of people who lack capacity.

It protects people (aged 16 or over) who lack capacity to take some, or all, decisions for themselves because of a mental disorder, or an inability to communicate.

It allows someone, like a relative, friend, or partner to make decisions on your behalf.

It lets you make arrangements for someone else to make decisions and manage affairs on your behalf, if you lose capacity in the future. This means being incapable of:

making decisions
understanding and/or communicating decisions
remembering and/or acting on decisions.

Remember

A diagnosis of dementia, for example, does not mean the person is unable to make decisions for him/herself.

If a person acts unwisely (whether a mental disorder is present, or not) this does not mean capacity is lacking.