Aging is unfortunately sometimes synonymous with the loss of physical and mental abilities. Elderly people in this case most often no longer have their faculties of discernment and their ability to express their wishes. This loss of autonomy has repercussions in the acts of daily life but also in administrative acts, or even in the management of one's assets. Family authorization allows seniors in this case to be represented by one of their relatives who has the authorization to perform these acts on their behalf. Family authorization, a protective measure decided by a judge that is more flexible than curatorship or guardianship, for example, allows their interests to be safeguarded.
“Family empowerment” is a measure that can be put in place to protect a person who no longer has the physical and mental capacity to express their will. A situation that can be common among sick and dependent elderly people and which, in this case, allows them to protect their interests.
Family authorization, a decision taken by the protection litigation judge, allows relatives (descendant, ascendant, brother or sister, husband or wife, partner, PACS partner) to represent the person in this situation in their actions. everyday. In this situation, authorized relatives are authorized to assist, represent or perform certain acts on behalf of the vulnerable person without resorting to traditional judicial protection measures.
This ability to exercise a family authorization is always done free of charge, and it is imperative for the person who requests the right to exercise it to justify his family relationship with the person who can no longer express his will thanks to his booklet. family for example.
On the other hand, family authorization can be put in place only on condition that the person who wishes to exercise it can provide the judge with letters from members of his family attesting that they accept his "appointment". The establishment of family empowerment requires a good understanding between relatives. A guarantee for the vulnerable person that their interests are well protected.
A person, especially an elderly person, who is no longer able to manage their interests on their own may be affected by a general family authorization (also called "special"), which is mentioned in the margin of their birth certificate, or limited.
In the first case, his relative, who has been appointed by the judge to exercise this measure, is responsible for carrying out all of his acts of administration, that is to say his acts of daily life (opening a bank account, conclusion of a residential lease, etc.), but also the acts which engage his assets (sale of real estate, conclusion of a loan, donation, etc.). A general family authorization is authorized by the judge for a fixed period which cannot exceed 10 years. However, he can renew this protective measure in certain circumstances or if the condition of the vulnerable person is clearly not likely to improve.
Family empowerment may also be limited. In this case, the person empowered to exercise this measure is only responsible for certain acts of the person to be protected. These can be the same acts as a general family authorization or only acts that concern the vulnerable person himself, and the latter can continue to carry out some of his daily life steps on his own.
Family authorization can only be implemented if a judge orders it and if all the other possible means of representing her in the acts of daily life do not sufficiently protect her interests.
To consider a family authorization, it is one of the relatives of the person who no longer has all his faculties to express his will who must ask the judge directly, or through the public prosecutor, for its implementation. .
To this end, the person at the origin of a request for authorization to exercise family authorization must, first of all, provide the judge with a detailed medical certificate of the vulnerable person to be protected. As the service-public.fr site states, “the detailed medical certificate describes the deterioration of the person's faculties and the foreseeable evolution. It specifies the consequences of this alteration on the need to be assisted or represented and indicates whether the person is in a position to explain his situation ". This type of medical certificate is issued by doctors who appear on a list drawn up by the public prosecutor. The latter can also approach the attending physician of the person concerned by the family authorization.
In addition to a detailed medical certificate, the applicant for a family authorization must provide the judge with a complete copy of the birth certificate of the person to be protected, less than 3 months old, a copy of the identity document of this last, as well as his own. He must also accompany his request with this completed form:the "Request for legal protection of an adult (family authorization or judicial protection)".
To investigate a request for family authorization, in principle, the judge receives the vulnerable person to be protected thanks to this measure. However, if his physical and mental condition does not allow it, the judge can rely on the opinion of the doctor who provided the medical certificate.
Note:if the security clearance is decided by a judge, it is however not part of the judicial protection measures such as legal protection, guardianship or curatorship. Indeed, once family authorization has been put in place, the judge no longer intervenes, unlike other judicial protection measures.
Family authorization ends on the death of the person to be protected, if he or she is placed under judicial safeguard, curatorship or guardianship, when the conditions for family authorization are no longer met or when the latter is detrimental to the interests of the protected person, at the end of the period fixed by the judge, or after the accomplishment of the acts for which the authorization had been delivered.
