LIECHTENSTEIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Thomas Plattner and Fabian Jenny, Ospelt & Partner Attorneys at Law Ltd.
danger”, a medical doctor can carry out urgent medi - cal treatment even without the consent of the guardian and the approval of the guardianship court. In princi - ple, the guardian may not consent to the sterilisation of the person concerned. An exception to this prohibi - tion exists if the life or health of the person concerned would be endangered without this intervention due to a physical ailment. Such decision requires a separate court approval. A disabled person decides on their place of residence themselves. The guardian has no coercive powers. However, the guardian must take care of this task in so far as this is necessary to safeguard the welfare of the disabled person. The guardian cannot force the person concerned to actually reside at a newly deter - mined place of residence. Alternatives to guardianship are the help of the fam - ily or a privately authorised representative, in some cases assisted by care facilities or facilities for the disabled or within the framework of social or psycho - social services. 8.3 Planning for Incapacity Liechtenstein law recognises the advance power of attorney ( Vorsorgevollmacht ) as the principal instru - ment for planning ahead of a future loss of capacity. Under Sections 284b to 284c, ABGB, a Vorsorgev- ollmacht is a power of attorney that becomes effec - tive only once the grantor loses the legal capacity, insight or ability to communicate that is required to manage the matters entrusted to the attorney. The matters covered by the power must be specifically described, and the attorney may not stand in a rela - tionship of dependency or other close relationship with a care institution in which the grantor resides or is looked after (Section 284b, ABGB). A validly granted and properly exercised Vorsorgevollmacht generally makes the appointment of a court-supervised Sach- walter (see 8.2 Appointment of a Guardian ) unneces - sary for the matters it covers (Section 284c, ABGB). A person may also record, in a Sachwalterverfügung , their wishes as to who should act for them if a guard - ian ultimately has to be appointed; the court must take such wishes into account when selecting the Sach- walter (Section 279, ABGB). Both instruments, togeth -
er with any revocation, are recorded in the Central Representation Register ( Zentrales Vertretungsver- zeichnis ) kept by the Princely Court of First Instance, which allows third parties such as banks and authori - ties to verify whether, and to what extent, an advance arrangement has taken effect (Section 284e, ABGB). For healthcare decisions specifically, the Patient Direc - tives Act ( Patientenverfügungsgesetz , PatVG, LGBl 2011 Nr 209, in force since 1 January 2012) allows an individual to refuse specified future medical treatment in advance for the case that they are no longer able to understand, judge or communicate. The PatVG dis - tinguishes between a binding directive, which must describe the treatments refused with sufficient preci - sion, follow a documented medical consultation and be executed before a lawyer or the Landgericht , and a directive that does not meet these formal require - ments but must still be given due weight by the treat - ing physician. A binding directive must be renewed at regular intervals to remain effective. In practice, advisers typically recommend combining a Vorsorgevollmacht covering financial and personal matters with a Patientenverfügung covering medical treatment, since the two instruments address dif - ferent aspects of incapacity and are registered and exercised separately. Because Liechtenstein has no separate statutory concept of representation by close relatives outside these instruments, clients without a Vorsorgevollmacht or Patientenverfügung in place remain dependent on the court-supervised guardian - ship procedure described at 8.2 Appointment of a Guardian . 8.4 Elder Law Liechtenstein social security laws, eg, obligatory private pension funds in addition to minimum pen - sion protection for elderly people, obligatory health insurance for all citizens, cover the protection of elder people. Municipalities manage retirement homes and residen - tial homes for the elderly. For the future, Liechtenstein establishes a professional social security and health insurance system based on stable state finances and avoidance of public debt respectively.
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