When grandma was diagnosed with dementia many years back, we had to take on almost every decision for her, from her daily living pattern to all her medical matters. It was fortunate that family members were readily available to assist her in making decisions and there were no major conflicts in anticipating her needs. However, when it came to my grandfather in his ageing years, problems arose when grandpa was too ill to handle his own financial affairs. Grandpa held various assets from properties to businesses. When he fell very ill and was not mentally fit to manage matters, no one in the family was able nor prepared to run his businesses given the lack of experience and directions. Everyone in the family had a different opinion. Strains started to surface as family members squabble over how to manage grandpa’s assets. Although grandpa had a will, it could not be executed as he was still alive. Fast forward to this day. If the Mental Capacity Act was in force back then, grandpa could have appointed a trusted person or people to manage his affairs should he one day be unable to do so.

What is Mental Capacity Act?

You may or may not have heard about it, which was passed two years ago by the Parliament in Singapore but only took effect on 1st March 2010. The Act serves to protect the mentally-incapacitated, a group that is expected to increase with Singapore’s aging population and rising dementia rates. Through a legal document, called the Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA), someone who is at least 21 years or older (called the donor), can voluntarily appoint one or more persons to be his decision makers (donees), when he becomes mentally incapable of doing so in the future. The donor can decide which personal, property or financial matters to give the donee(s) authority to. Should there be no proxy decision maker, a deputy may be appointed by the Court for the mentally-incapacitated person. The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) is the body that maintains the LPA register and investigates any possible abuse of duties.

How the Mental Capacity Act works

If the individual already suffers from lack of capacity, the Act also allows application to the Court to appoint trusted persons as deputies to make decisions on his behalf. This can come in useful for parents with mentally disabled children as they can appoint a successor deputy, to replace the parents in making decisions when the parents themselves pass away. In fact, the Mental Capacity Act can be viewed as a form of protection for everyone, assuming at some point in our old age, there is always a chance of our health deteriorating through common ailments such as dementia, stroke, memory loss or some form of brain degeneration. Even everyday decisions can be made on your behalf, such as where to live, what to eat, what activities you would like to engage in, etc, when you lose your mental capacity. But what is more important is, while you are still capable of taking care of your own affairs, appoint someone you trust to make those decisions on your behalf in the future should you be incapacitated.

The table below depicts some key facts surrounding the Act:

At the end of the day, we all want peace of mind and the assurance that things can be taken care of in both good times and bad. The Mental Capacity Act fills that need. You may already have a written will, but a will can only be executed upon one’s passing. Under the Mental Capacity Act however, the court has the power to amend, revoke or order the execution of the will on behalf of a person who lacks capacity while the person is still alive. This would apply to grandpa’s case. If he had the benefit of Mental Capacity Act back then, things would have been better managed and easier for the family. Not that grandpa was mentally alert to see the rising strains in the family, but it would at least give him peace of mind that his matters could be taken care of according to his wishes and instructions.

We can plan as much as we think is necessary under a sound frame of mind. But what happens once we lack that capacity to act or attend to our own affairs? This may be something to mull over and even consider while we still have the mental capacity to. For we never know how long our window of mental opportunity will last before the sun sets upon our minds.