Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000: code of practice for continuing and welfare attorneys

The Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 was introduced to protect individuals with incapacity and to support their families and carers in managing and safeguarding the individuals’ welfare and finances. The Executive commissioned a two-year project to monitor how the Act was working. The results were positive, but showed that some changes could be made to streamline procedures and enable more adults and their carers to benefit from the Act. This revised edition of the code of practice for continuing and welfare attorneys takes account of changes to the Act that were introduced in part 2 of the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007. This code is for anyone appointed as an attorney under the Act, that is, as continuing and/or welfare power of attorney. The code applies equally to a lay person and to a professional continuing attorney such as a solicitor or accountant. It contains the following sections: about the act; creating a power of attorney; exercising powers of attorney (continuing and welfare); Specific guidance on exercising welfare powers of attorney;Stopping being an attorney; and Pre-act attorneys and attorneys under the law of another country.