Losing your mental or physical faculties and your autonomy when you get older is unfortunately a situation that must be considered. So you might as well organize in advance the defense of your interests and that of your property and designate the person of trust of his choice who will exercise this right. The future protection mandate makes it possible to provide this protection according to his wishes and needs and avoids, at least initially, the placement of the dependent person under guardianship by a judge.
Any adult person (the principal), not subject to a guardianship measure, can organize in advance his protection and that of his property in view of the possible deterioration of his state of mental or physical health. For this, she appoints an agent who will be responsible for representing her and acting in her place in her interest from the moment the alteration of her physical or mental capacities is medically confirmed. This report is established by a doctor registered on a list drawn up by the public prosecutor.
The object of the mandate for future protection concerns either the person of the principal (his health, his housing, his travels, his leisure activities, etc.), or the administration of his patrimony, or both at the same time. A person can designate several agents, by type of protection to be managed, for example. This agent is either a natural person (family member, relative, etc.), or a legal person (association, State, community, etc.) approved as a judicial agent for the protection of adults, the list of which is available in the prefectures. or the district courts of each department.
The mandate for future protection, unlike guardianship, does not cause the mandator to lose his legal rights and capacities when he becomes dependent. On the other hand, this mandate can be modified or revoked by the principal as long as it has not taken effect.
The future protection mandate can take two forms:
It is drawn up on plain paper and countersigned by a lawyer or drafted according to the regulatory model available online and it must be registered with the tax office of the client's domicile. The registration fees are 125 euros, payable by the principal. This type of mandate essentially concerns the day-to-day management of assets such as the renewal of a tenant's lease.
It is concluded before a notary and gives more extensive powers to the agent than the mandate under private signature, such as the sale of real estate for example. The cost of drafting the mandate by a notary is approximately 300 euros.
The mandator has the option of appointing one or more people to monitor the execution of the future protection mandate once it takes effect. In this case, the agent must draw up an inventory of the principal's assets, report annually on his mission, establish an asset management account and provide a written report of the actions he has taken for the protection of the person of the principal.
If the mandate for future protection allows a person to plan according to his wishes who will take care of his interests, and in what way, once he has become dependent, this protection measure can however be called into question. Indeed, any person can challenge, or request more protection for the principal, from the guardianship judge the implementation and the conditions of execution of the mandate for future protection.
In these cases, the judge may decide to supplement the protection of the person with a legal measure such as guardianship, the strongest legal protection which completely deprives the dependent person of their legal capacity, i.e. of being able to exercise its rights and obligations.
