What are the main changes included in the 2021 Law regarding support measures?

Law 8/21 implied a paradigm shift from substitution models to decision support procedures.

• He declared the abolition of incapacitation and of the procedures for the judicial modification of the capacity to act.
• It established, as a novelty, the voluntary jurisdiction procedure for the establishment of support.
• It amended the Spanish Civil Code regarding support persons. In Catalonia, this was done through Decree Law 19/21 of August 31, and therefore, different support persons exist in the two legal frameworks.
• The figures of guardianship, extension and rehabilitation of parental authority were thus eliminated from the field of disability.
• Guardianship is established as the primary court-ordered support measure for people with disabilities in Spain, and assistance is provided in Catalonia (Decree Law 19/21) as a formal and stable support measure. Guardianship can be either assistance-based or representative, and assistance can be supportive, collaborative, or representative. A court-appointed guardian is available as a specific measure, and de facto guardianship is expressly regulated in Spain.
• When it comes to specifying the support measures, the new regulation gives preference to voluntary measures.
• The right to accessibility is also guaranteed, and adaptations and adjustments in procedures involving persons with disabilities were also introduced into procedural laws, regardless of whether they participate as a party or in a different capacity, and these will be carried out in all phases and procedural actions where necessary, including acts of communication. It is also expressly mentioned that the person with a disability will be allowed, if they so wish and at their own expense, to use an expert professional who, as a facilitator, will carry out adaptation and adjustment tasks.
• It requires the review of all sentences issued prior to its entry into force, within a maximum period of three years, recently extended by the final provision 5 of the Defense Law by three more years.
• Obliga ar evisar todos los medidas acuerdos con la nueva legislación en un periodo de tres a seis años y antes, si fuera necesario o hay cualquier cambio que hay cualquier cambio que así asesorte.

Manuals for professionals on decision-making support for people with disabilities

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