The Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act 2015 came into law on the 26^th April 2023

This Act has radically altered the means by which citizens can make arrangements for their affairs to be managed in the event that they are not able to do so for themselves due to a reduction in, or loss of their mental capacity. 

The new Act has brought into law a range of options that can now be availed of to either assist someone to make decisions for themselves, or to take over full control of a person’s affairs if that is necessary.

The three new possible options that are now available are called;

1. A Decision-Making Assistance Agreement. This is an agreement a person (who for the purposes of the new act is called a “relevant person”) can enter into with another person whereby they can nominate someone who can assist the relevant person to make decisions by giving them explanations of the nature of the decision to be made and the implications of the decision for the relevant person, using such communication techniques as are necessary, so that the relevant person can then make the decision for themselves

2. A Co-Decision-Making Agreement is a higher level agreement in that under this arrangement, the relevant person can authorise a third party, not only to assist the relevant person to understand the nature of the decision to be made in the hopes that the relevant person will then make the decision, they can also authorise the other person to then make the decision on behalf of the relevant person if a decision needs to be made and the relevant person 

3. Appointment of Decision-making Representative is the highest level of assisted decision making arrangement that now exists. This involves someone making an application to the Circuit Court to be appointed as a Decision-Making Representative for the individual in question. This application is based on a medical report to confirm that the relevant person is in fact incapable due to mental incapacity of making the decisions to be made. The court can make orders authorising the Decision-Making Representative to make one or more than one decision for the relevant person depending on the circumstances of the case. 

In addition to the three new regimes for the management of a person’s affairs the old concept of creating an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) to enable you to make provision for who you want to manage your affairs for you if you lose your mental capacity still exists. Significant changes have been made to the process of creating an EPA however and for those people who wish to instruct a solicitor to assist them with the creation of an EPA it is now taking significantly longer than it used to to do this.