Losing the capacity to make decisions
If you're no longer able to make decisions for yourself, whether for some or all of the time, you are said to have lost mental capacity.
If you lose capacity and have made a power of attorney, then your appointed attorney may be able to make financial decisions, health and welfare decisions, or both, on your behalf as described above (depending on what type of power of attorney you have made).
If there is no power of attorney, health professionals or others making decisions on your behalf have to follow legal guidelines that ensure they act in your best interests. The rules vary depending on where you live in the UK.
Legal guidelines where you live
The aim of the Act is to make sure that every effort is made to include the individual in decision-making about them, and take into account their wishes, feelings, values and beliefs, including religious and cultural traditions.
This Act includes a code of practice for attorneys, healthcare workers and others who support people who have lost the capacity to make their own decisions.
Find out more
- Get information on the Mental Capacity Act at GOV.UK This includes booklets for you, your family, friends and carers, and health and social care professionals.
- Learn about lasting power of attorney at GOV.UK.
- Call the Office of the Public Guardian on 0300 4560 300. Visit the Office of the Public Guardian website.
The High Court is responsible for the management of the property and affairs of people in Northern Ireland who are incapable of managing their own financial affairs, under the provisions of Part VIII of the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986.
Find out more
You can call the Office of Care and Protection on 028 9072 4733. Visit the Office of Care and Protection website.
If an individual who has not made a power of attorney becomes incapable of making decisions, an application may be made (usually by a friend or family member, or a solicitor) to the local Sheriff Court for a Guardianship Order or intervention order.
The Court will grant powers that might otherwise be granted under a welfare or continuing power of attorney. You may need a solicitor to help you with the court order and to inform you about the costs involved.
People appointed under such orders have a duty to act for the benefit of the person the order relates to, and to provide a management plan and an annual account of their actions to the Public Guardian.
The Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland) also provides a useful Code of Conduct for people appointed by the court.
Find out more
- Find further information and sample forms on the Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland) website. You can also call them on 01324 678300.
- Visit the Mental Welfare Commission website.
Last updated October 2025.
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