Applications for Court Order under Mental Capacity Act

Ms Tin Pei Ling asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) for each year from March 2010 to October 2013, how many applications to the Court for an appointment of a deputy are made under the Mental Capacity Act; (b) of these applications, how many Court orders are granted; (c) of these orders granted, how many concern assets worth less than $10,000 and $30,000 respectively; (d) how many are contested; and (e) of the ones that are uncontested, how many are denied and for what reasons.

Ms Tin Pei Ling asked the Minister for Social and Family Development of the deputy orders granted by the Court each year from March 2010 to October 2013 under the Mental Capacity Act (a) how many applications are made by the applicants in person; and (b) how many applicants subsequently applied to the Courts to vary the order and what are their reasons for doing so.

Mr Chan Chun Sing: The number of applications filed to appoint a deputy and the number of orders made each year are as follows:-

The Courts do not have information on the breakdown of the cases by size of assets.

To date, only nine cases were fully contested. Sixteen other cases, which were initially contested, were resolved in various ways, including via Court mediation. Of the uncontested cases, none was denied. Of all applications, three were made by applicants in person.

There were 53 applications for variation of orders relating to deputies. The breakdown of these applications is as follows: