Cost for Family Members to be Appointed Deputies under Mental Capacity Act

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng asked the Minister for Social and Family Development whether the Ministry can simplify the current process and reduce the costs incurred by family members who wish to be appointed as deputies of persons with disabilities under the Mental Capacity Act.

Mr Tan Chuan-Jin: Mdm Speaker, the Ministry recognises the challenges families may face when they need to make an application to the Court to appoint a proxy decision maker or what we call a "deputy" for their loved ones. MSF is working actively with the Family Justice Courts to simplify the process of deputy applications.

Improvements which we intend to make include changing forms and rules, providing standard templates for key documents, such as medical reports, and enabling individuals to apply on their own without a lawyer.

While we do more to simplify the application process, we also need to make sure that we continue to safeguard the interests of the mentally incapacitated individuals. We aim to complete our review and introduce the improvements in the fourth quarter of 2015. We do encourage those who have particular feedback and suggestions for improvements on how we should manage the process, to let us know so that we can incorporate them into the review itself.