What is a mandate?

A mandate is an official document in which you, as an adult in full possession of your faculties, designate someone or several people to look after you or your property in the event that you become temporarily or permanently incapable of doing so yourself. The Civil Code of Québec calls these individuals mandataries. You are the mandator and you specify what powers they will have.

If the court declares you incapacitated, it becomes the duty of this person (or these persons) to protect you, represent you and fulfil the wishes you expressed in your mandate.

When does your mandate take effect?

For your mandate to come into force, two conditions have to be met:

Several mandataries

If you appoint more than one person as mandatary, any of them may apply for homologation of the mandate.

Your incapacity has to be confirmed in medical and psychosocial assessments.
The person you appointed has to ask the court to authorize enforcement of the mandate.

This judicial procedure is called homologation and is usually launched by an attorney or notary at the request of your mandatary.

If your mandate is not sufficiently comprehensive

If your mandate does not protect you adequately, it can be augmented with a tutorship or curatorship. However, the mandate remains in effect and your mandatary has to report to the designated tutor or curator.

If your incapacity is only temporary

Supposing you regain your health and faculties, and can once again look after yourself? If you wish, you may ask the court to revoke your mandate. Your mandatary or someone else may also file this request. Once the mandate has been revoked, your mandatary or mandataries have to give you a report about their administration.