ANALYSIS OF THE LEGAL SITUATION OF THE CARRIER OF MENTAL DEFICIENCY IN CIVIL LAW TODAY

Abstract

With the enactment of Law 13.146 of July 6, 2015 - entitled Statute of Persons with Disabilities or simply EPD - there were alterations of many institutes of Civil Law, including the hypotheses of incapacity. In the list of disabilities, it had been suppressed from the hypotheses of absolute and relative incapacity, respectively, that derived from mental deficiency. With this suppression, it has been found that current legislation treats people with mental disabilities as a rule and, by way of curatorial process and as an exception, they can become relatively incapable. Thus, it was investigated in that article if the changes regarding the incapacity of the people with mental deficiency represented for such people a lack of legal protection. To solve this problem, we analyzed current and relevant bibliographical references, both in the legal area and in bioethics. The evolution of the normative treatment of incapacity, the evolution of the treatment provided by the Right to the disabled with a focus on the mental deficiency, and the itinerary for the promulgation of the EPD were analyzed. It was concluded that the novel legislation represents a normative advance in relation to the promotion of the person with mental deficiency and it was identified that the absence of the prediction of the people with mental deficiency can be treated as absolutely incapacitating can represent a legal deprotection to them.