The fate of Supported Decision Making in Hungary

The supported decision making has been introduced into the Hungarian legal system in 2014 as a new form for enhancing the presence of people with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities in the legal life. The guardianship can be substituted by this form. The institutionalization of a new legal form is very important, but it can be more significant whether this modern form is applied by the courts and authorities. After a short historical overview, we analyzed the current legal regulation and the practice of the courts and authorities. Our analysis was based on secondary data gathering, but it was limited by the lack of the collected data. After this analysis it can be stated, that this form has not a wide recognition in the Hungarian judicial and administrative practice. The administrative staff which is responsible for it is overloaded. Therefore, this new institution has some challenges which should be answered by the legislation and by the legal practice, as well.