What makes a person incapacitated

It comes naturally to us. However, what if these abilities were taken away from us? These abilities can be taken away due to things like dementia, mental illness, or physical disabilities. Your independence would be compromised and someone would have to assist you in daily tasks and decision making. It is important to understand legal incapacity and what it brings. Make sure to keep reading to find out more. Before looking at what comes along with legal incapacitation, it is first important to understand the definition of incapacity.

Being incapacitated means a person is no longer able to care for themselves or their affairs. It could be for a permanent or short period of time, and it can extend to affairs such as property, financial, and legal management. There are many causes that could call for incapacity, one of the largest causes being the dementia epidemic.

Some people will require extra support to do this. This support can include assisted decision making or supported decision making. Mental incapacity may be temporary or ongoing or may only affect certain decisions. Capacity to make a decision can therefore change depending on what the decision is, the complexity of the issues involved in the decision and when the decision is to be made. Even where some form of cognitive difficulty has been confirmed an individual should be given the opportunity to make their own decision on each occasion, as that person may have the capacity to do so at that particular time.

Sometimes this occurs through a natural process - for example, where family members gradually take over decision making responsibilities for a mentally frail elderly relative and that person agrees to the help being provided. However formal assessment may be required particularly for legal processes or where there are differences of opinions about what is happening. As most incapacities are medical in their origins, doctors are asked to provide reports regarding capacity.

This may be a general practitioner or a doctor who specialises in mental functioning such as a neurologist, geriatrician or psychiatrist.

Clinical and neuro psychologists also have specialist skills in assessing mental functioning. Other health professionals and service providers may have useful observations regarding day to day functioning of the person as well. If you have a family member or loved one that you want to ensure is taken care of you need to speak with an attorney experienced in the guardianship process.

Contact us online or call our Dallas office directly at What does it mean to be legally incapacitated?