Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Bill

# Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Bill The law governing decision-making for adults who lack capacity to make decisions for themselves was outdated and fragmented across multiple pieces of legislation. This bill sought to create a comprehensive, modern framework for protecting the welfare and managing the finances of vulnerable adults in Scotland—including those with dementia, learning disabilities, mental health conditions, or other incapacities—while respecting their rights and promoting their autonomy where possible. The existing legal provisions were scattered, difficult to navigate, and did not adequately reflect contemporary principles about supported decision-making or the involvement of adults themselves in choices affecting their lives. The bill introduced a unified statutory framework with several key mechanisms: it established the authority for guardianship (both welfare and financial), created powers of attorney that could be used even before incapacity arose, introduced the concept of intervention orders for more limited decision-making powers, and set out principles to guide decision-makers (including a presumption of capacity and a requirement to consider the person's own wishes and values). It also created a new Public Guardian role to oversee and support guardians and attorneys, and established safeguards such as court oversight, registration of powers, and duties of accountability. The bill received Royal Assent in 2000 and came into force in 2002, fundamentally reshaping how Scottish law addresses decisions affecting incapacitated adults and establishing principles still central to capacity law in Scotland today.

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