What is business capacity?
Business capacity is the ability of a person to independently decide on rights and obligations. A fully capable person can acquire rights and obligations and enter into various legal relationships with their declarations of will. In particular, he can conclude contracts, marry, decide on his own treatment, dispose of his property, file lawsuits, appeals, etc. Full legal capacity is acquired from the age of 18.
For what reasons can business capacity be revoked?
An adult who, due to an illness or disturbance in psychophysical development, is not capable of normal reasoning, and therefore is unable to take care of the protection of his rights and interests, may be completely deprived of legal capacity, and if his actions directly endanger his own rights and interests or the rights and interests of other persons may be partially deprived of business capacity. Concrete reasons are, for example: dementia, mental retardation, various psychoses and the like.
Who can initiate proceedings for deprivation of business capacity?
The procedure can be initiated by a family member, a center for social work or, for example, the prosecutor’s office (which is less common in practice). The proposal is submitted to the basic court.
Who decides on deprivation of business capacity?
Deprivation of business capacity is decided by the basic court in a non-litigation procedure. Since the court does not have expert knowledge in this area, it makes its decision on the basis of the mandatory expert examination of the person who should be deprived of legal capacity. The expert opinion is performed by two expert psychiatrists.
Who represents a person deprived of business capacity?
For a person deprived of business capacity, the social work center appoints a guardian whose duty it is to take care of the person of the ward, to represent him, to obtain funds for the support of the ward and to manage and dispose of his property. The guardian is primarily appointed by the spouse and close relatives, however, the center for social work can directly perform the duty of guardian by appointing one of the employed social workers.
Can business capacity be restored?
The answer is: yes, it can. Every three years (or at a shorter interval) the court must review whether the reasons for which the person was deprived of business capacity have ceased, and decide whether it is restored (completely or partially) or the person continues to be deprived of business capacity.
Danilo Babić- lawyer in Novi Sad
