Choosing your mandatary

A major advantage of the mandate is that you are free to choose whomever you want as mandatary. Obviously the person has to be of full age and capable of performing the tasks you wish to assign them.

Informing your mandatary

Choose someone whom you trust completely and talk to them openly about the responsibilities involved. You want to be sure they will act in accordance with your wishes, so their agreement is paramount. For this reason, it is also important to speak to them before you designate them in your mandate. It is also a good idea to give them a copy of the document or tell them where the original is kept. They will need it when the time comes to ask the court for your wishes to be executed.

If you appoint someone your own age or older than you as mandatary – for example, your spouse – they may be unable to fulfil this role a few years from now if they themselves become incapacitated or are no longer alive. Therefore it is advisable to designate a substitute who is younger and able to replace them if necessary.

One mandatary or several?

You can choose a mandatary to look after both you AND your property, or several mandataries, depending on the complexity of the task.

We also advise you to appoint substitutes in case the people you designate withdraw from their functions, die, or are incapable of fulfilling their responsibilities at the time the mandate comes into effect or later on.

Mandatary to the person

You can designate someone - a family member, close friend or somebody else - to take care of your moral and physical well-being only (accommodation, food, medical care, recreational activities, clothing purchases, legal procedures, etc.). This person will also be responsible for consenting to any medical care you may need, if you are recognized as incapable of consenting to it yourself.

Mandatary or mandataries to property

If you want to designate a legal entity as your mandatary to property, be sure to obtain their agreement and find out what their terms are (management fees, etc.).

You can appoint another person or several people to look after your property, because this task requires quite different skills from those involved in protection of the person. The mandatary to property may be a legal entity, for example a trust company.