Adult guardianship and incapacity in Mauritius

This is not legal advice. This guide is general legal information for Mauritius and does not replace a consultation with a lawyer who has the full context of your case.

Adult guardianship in Mauritius is a court-based form of protection for a person of age who cannot manage some or all of their affairs. The legal response is not simply permission for a relative to take over. It requires evidence of incapacity, a suitable representative and powers defined by the applicable order and the Code Civil Mauricien.

Court protection when an adult cannot act

A diagnosis does not, by itself, give a child or spouse authority over another adult's bank account, land or medical arrangements. Banks, notaries and public offices need a recognised source of authority. An informal family arrangement may work for shopping and daily support, then fail at the first property transfer or account restriction.

The Courts Act reserves interdiction of persons from the Intermediate Court and District Courts. Applications for this form of protection therefore belong at Supreme Court level. The Code Civil Mauricien uses protective regimes including tutelle, meaning guardianship, and curatelle, meaning a form of court-supervised assistance. The appropriate measure turns on the evidence and the acts that must be performed.

Capacity depends on the decision

Capacity is not usefully treated as a single label. An older person may understand daily spending but be unable to assess a mortgage, investment withdrawal or sale of inherited land. Another adult may communicate slowly yet understand the choice perfectly. The inquiry should identify the actual decision, the information needed and the person's ability to understand and express a choice.

Start by separating care from legal authority. Paying a carer, consenting to access records, operating an account and signing a deed are different acts. Existing mandates, joint ownership and account terms also need review. A proposed guardian should not seek broader control merely because a narrower arrangement takes more care to describe.

Medical evidence and family records

Medical evidence should address function, not just name an illness. A useful report explains the condition, its likely course, how it affects understanding or communication, and whether capacity varies. The court may need to know whether the person can participate in the process and whether support would allow a decision to be made.

Family records supply the other half of the picture. They include civil-status documents, details of close relatives, the proposed representative's identity and a schedule of property, income, regular expenses and debts. Any will, mandate, pension record or title deed may reveal interests that require protection. For connected estate issues, see challenging a will in Mauritius and debts of an estate.

Choosing a representative and safeguards

Relationship alone does not settle suitability. The court may be concerned with honesty, availability, financial competence, conflicts of interest and the proposed person's ability to account. A relative who owes money to the adult, expects to buy the adult's land or is already in a dispute over inheritance should disclose that position clearly.

Safeguards can be practical. Separate banking records, limits on withdrawals, an inventory and supporting invoices make later scrutiny possible. Significant transactions may require further authority. The Notaries Act requires particulars of an interdiction order to be sent to the Registrar-General, who keeps a Register of Interdicted Persons. That record matters when a notary must assess a person's ability to deal with property.

When relatives disagree about who acts

A contested application should stay focused on the adult. Accusations about old family grievances are of little assistance unless they bear on present safety, capacity or suitability. Each proposed representative should explain what decisions are pending, what property exists and how they would avoid using the position for personal advantage.

In practice, the most revealing disagreement is often about access to records. Missing bank statements, unexplained withdrawals or refusal to disclose a title deed can matter more than a general claim to be the closest relative. The court can hear competing positions and is not bound by a family vote. The division of work between barristers, attorneys and notaries is explained in the guide to Mauritius's three legal professions.

Property, care and continuing accounts

Appointment is the start of administration, not a transfer of ownership. The adult's money remains the adult's money. Expenditure should be traceable to care, maintenance, tax, insurance or another proper need. Mixing funds with the representative's personal account makes even legitimate spending difficult to prove.

A sale of land deserves particular caution. The appointment order should be read with the Code Civil Mauricien and the proposed notarial transaction before anything is promised to a buyer. Authority to pay household bills does not necessarily authorise a sale, mortgage or partage, meaning division of jointly held or inherited property. The point most often missed is that convenience is not the same as legal power.

Where the Judge in Chambers vests an adult's property in the Curator under the Code Civil Mauricien, the Curatelle Act provides for the Curator to administer it. That is a specific statutory route, not a description of every family appointment. Records should therefore match the precise order actually made.

Seeking the least restrictive protection

Protection should answer the demonstrated risk without erasing every choice the adult can still make. The evidence may support authority for a defined financial act, supervised assistance or a wider protective regime. Wishes, relationships, living arrangements and communication methods remain relevant even when formal authority is required.

Digital property may also need attention. Access to a phone, online bank or wallet raises separate privacy and security questions, considered in the guide to digital assets after death. The wider property, estates and wills practice sets the incapacity question beside ownership, succession and notarial work. The workable application is the one tied to real decisions, supported by evidence and capable of being supervised.

This is not legal advice. This guide is general legal information for Mauritius and does not replace a consultation with a lawyer who has the full context of your case.