Law 13/2026 replaces judicial incapacitation with capacity supports.

The Official Journal of the Government of Catalonia (DOGC) publishes in issue 9722, of 4 August, Law 13/2026, of 3 August, which reforms the Civil Code of Catalonia and replaces the model of judicial modification of capacity with a system of supports for the exercise of legal capacity of persons with disabilities. The regulation, promulgated by the president of the Government of Catalonia, Salvador Illa i Roca, and countersigned by the minister of Justice and Democratic Quality, Ramon Espadaler Parcerisas, will enter into force six months after publication, on 4 February 2027.

The law implements Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in force in Catalonia since 3 May 2008, according to which persons with disabilities have the right to exercise legal capacity on equal terms with others. The text culminates the path begun by the state Law 8/2021 and Decree-Law 19/2021, which already eliminated judicial incapacitation and required existing measures to be reviewed, and now repeals Decree-Law 19/2021 to establish the complete support regime of Catalan civil law. The starting point is clear: every adult has legal capacity, and having supports does not entail any limitation of it.

A change of model: from substitution to support

The regulation, which reforms Title II of Book Two of the Civil Code of Catalonia, reserves the protection institutions (guardianship, curatorship, parental authority) for minors and devotes a new chapter to supports for adults. Supports are classified into:

• Formalised: assistance and mandates or preventive powers granted in a public deed, and assistance established judicially.
• Non-formalised: those provided by families and the community environment, which replace the figure of de facto guardianship and must be formalised when acting before financial institutions, registries, notaries or judicial authorities.

Supports are voluntary and, as a general rule, free of charge, and those who provide them must do so loyally, respecting the dignity, values and preferences of the person.

Assistance and preventive supports

The new assistance is established before a notary or by judicial decision, covers the personal and patrimonial sphere and may be for a specific matter or continuous over time. Preventive supports allow planning for the future: through a mandate contract or a preventive power, the person expresses their will and designates who is to take care of their affairs and who is to supervise their actions, with immediate or deferred effect.

El règim incorpora salvaguardes: els suports judicials es revisen d’ofici cada tres anys i les assistències notarials, com a màxim, també cada tres anys; la persona assistida pot manifestar davant notari si vol continuar o modificar el suport. Els desacords sobre la constitució o l’exercici dels suports es poden canalitzar per la mediació.

Revisió de les mesures judicials vigents

Les tuteles, curateles i potestats parentals prorrogades o rehabilitades constituïdes abans de la reforma i encara no revisades es mantenen, però s’han d’adaptar al nou règim. La revisió es pot sol·licitar en qualsevol moment i, si no es demana, l’ha de fer l’autoritat judicial d’ofici o a instància del ministeri fiscal en un termini de tres anys. Les persones afectades poden demanar de substituir la mesura judicial vigent per una assistència notarial, i la llei també actualitza el Registre de nomenaments tutelars no testamentaris i de suports a la capacitat jurídica.

Amb aquesta reforma, Catalunya completa el gir cap a un model d’ajuda i acompanyament que afecta directament milers de famílies, notaries i jutjats. Per als lectors, el missatge pràctic és que qualsevol persona pot planificar amb antelació qui l’ha d’assistir i com, mitjançant escriptura pública, i que les mesures judicials antigues s’hauran de revisar en un màxim de tres anys des de l’entrada en vigor.

Source: Diari Oficial de la Generalitat de Catalunya (DOGC), No. 9722, 4 August 2026, General Provisions – Department of the Presidency, pp. 1-58 (official reference: No. 26.215.026).