A tailor made tool
The future protective mandate makes it possible to:
- Freely choose the person or persons (agents) who will act;
- Define precisely the acts that these persons may carry out, both with respect to personal decisions and those relating to the person’s assets.
A reversible measure
The future protective mandate becomes operative only once evidence of the principal’s incapacity has been provided.
Consequently, this mandate notably ends “in the event the principal’s or beneficiary’s faculties are restored, as evidenced by a medical report.”
The future protective mandate can therefore be a tool for organizing a potential situation of vulnerability created by age, but also for anticipating any temporary situation in which, for medical reasons, the principal’s faculties are impaired.
Court approval: a key, strictly regulated step
The mandate takes effect only after approval by the Court of First Instance, seized upon petition by the agent.
Evidence of the principal’s incapacity must then be provided, and the effectiveness of the mandate will be assessed by the Court.
The contractual freedom allowed by the mandate requires, in return, precise drafting: an incomplete mandate could be considered by the court as “insufficiently protective” and be supplemented with an additional protective measure, or even have its application refused altogether.
In addition, once the mandate has been approved, any person with standing may bring the matter before the court to challenge the implementation or the conditions of execution of the mandate.
It is therefore imperative that the mandate be drafted as clearly as possible and leave no room for dispute.
