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On Thursday, 29 November, the Saeima in the third and final reading adopted extensive amendments to the Civil Law and related laws, thereby establishing new provisions on legal capacity that conform to international law and preventing non-compliance of the Civil Law with the Constitution and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Amendments to the Law substitute the concept of total legal incapacity with the concept of limited legal capacity. According to the new wording of the Law, the legal capacity of a person who suffers from a mental disability or other type of health problem may be limited if doing so is necessary in the interests of the given person and if it is the only way to protect his/her interests. In such a situation, a legal guardian must be appointed for the person. The Law also sets forth that in specific cases temporary guardianship may be established without limiting the person’s legal capacity.
The legal capacity of a person with a mental disability or other type of health problem can be limited only to the extent to which this person is incapable of understanding or controlling his/her actions.
According to the Law, a person’s non-economic rights shall not be limited in order to enable this person to approach the respective institutions and the court to defend his/her rights and lawful interests concerning the limitation of his/her legal capacity and freedom, disagreements and disputes with the legal guardian, as well as the appointment or removal of a legal guardian.
As a result of amendments to the Civil Law, several restrictions will be revoked, including the prohibition for people with mental disabilities to acknowledge or contest paternity, as well as to enter into marriage.
Upon the initiative of the Latvian Council of Notaries Public, a new chapter on advance authorisation has been added to the Civil Law. Advance authorisation means that a person authorises another person to manage his/her property if the authorising person, because of health problems, other reasons or conditions, becomes incapable of understanding or controlling his/her actions. The Law stipulates that the authorised person should represent the best interest of the authorising person.
The possibility to issue advance authorisation will enable a person to decide in due time who will represent his/her interests if he/she becomes incapable of expressing his/her will. Therefore, no involvement of a court or an orphan’s court will be required for establishing a legal guardianship.
These amendments also change the terminology used in the Civil Law, thus abandoning the usage of outdated concepts.
In turn, amendments to the Civil Procedure Law set forth the procedure for gradually reviewing court judgements in legal incapacity cases that have been made by 31 December 2011 in order to ensure compliance of all of these judgements with the new legal provisions.
Amendments to the Civil Law, the Civil Procedure Law and the Law on Orphan's Courts which incorporate the reform of the legal capacity concept will come into force as of 1 January 2013.
Saeima Press Service