Mandates in anticipation of incapacity are legal acts that are growing in popularity, in particular owing to the ageing population. However, verification of the validity of a mandate presents difficulties owing to its entirely private nature, unlike protection regimes, such as curatorship and guardianship. While the Public Curator offers information and assistance services to the private guardians and curators that it supervises, nothing similar is provided for mandataries. Consequences of the absence of the Public Curator’s involvement are that a mandatory may abuse his or her powers or use them inadequately owing to lack of knowledge. A mandatary may also feel helpless in some situations.
The purpose of our research is to verify acting mandataries’ own ideas about their role. Do mandataries have adequate knowledge to play their role? Do they feel sufficiently informed about their powers and duties? Do they know where to get help if they need it? In accordance with the research findings, we will then study the roles of legal practitioners, the courts and the Public Curator in assisting mandataries and, ultimately, in protecting mandants who have become incapacitated.
Researchers
Brigitte Lefebvre
Researcher
Christine Morin
Researcher
Sébastien Doyon
Student researcher
Caroline Lepage
Student researcher
Laura Rizko
Ph.D. Student
Université de Montréal
