Law
Persons and Legal Capacity
In civil law, a person is a subject of rights and obligations. A person can be a citizen or a legal entity.
Types of Capacity
- Legal capacity: the ability to have rights (to hold rights and duties). It begins at the moment of birth and ends with death (Civil Code, Article 17).
- Active legal capacity (capacity to act): the ability to acquire rights through one's own actions and to assume obligations. Full capacity to act begins at the age of 18 (Article 22). In accordance with the law, a person who has married before the age of 18 acquires full capacity from the moment of marriage.
Capacity to Act by Age
| Age | Capacity | What they can do |
|---|---|---|
| Under 6 | no capacity to act | transactions are made by their parents or guardian |
| 6 to 14 | partial (Article 29) | petty everyday transactions, transactions that bring them a benefit free of charge, spending money given by parents |
| 14 to 18 | partial (Article 27) | most transactions with the written consent of parents; they manage their own wages and scholarship |
| 18 and older | full | makes all transactions independently |
- From 6 to 14: petty everyday transaction: a child cannot make a real estate purchase or sale, a will, or a loan on their own.
- Emancipation: declaring a person who has reached the age of 16 and works under an employment contract, or engages in business with parental consent, to be fully capable (Article 28). This is decided by the guardianship and trusteeship authority with the parents' consent, or by a court if there is no consent.
By Court Decision
- A citizen who cannot understand their actions due to mental illness may be declared legally incapable (Article 30).
- The capacity of a person who has placed their family in a difficult financial situation through alcohol or drug abuse may be restricted (Article 31).
- If there has been no information about a person at their place of residence for one year, a court may declare the person missing (Article 33).