THE SCOPE OF THE DEPRIVATION OF LEGAL CAPACITY AS A PRECONDITION FOR THE PROTECTION OF RIGHTS AND DIGNITY OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

Sa？etak Guardianship as a family-law institute has been an important, yet unsolved issue for decades now. The latest family law reform of 2014 and 2015 brought certain changes, which have been explained and advocated for as a new contribution to the improvement of the legal position of adults with disabilities on one hand as well as the legal certainty and the rule of law on the other. The Croatian Family Act proclaims that a person cannot be deprived of legal capacity completely, but only partially. One can only wonder - how can this provision be implemented in cases of a coma for instance? A wise legislator allows judges to be far more than the pure executors of a person with disabilites′ intentions. However, it seems that a wise judge when deciding upon this issue would in certain cases be acting contra legem if attempting to coherently protect the person with disabilities, which cannot be acceptable. Therefore, it is the aim of this paper to shed additional light on the newly adopted provisions of the Family Act as regards the deprivation of legal capacity, with the general premise that such a legislative intervention is neither proportional nor efficient