{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/mental-capacity-act-northern-ireland-2016/section-285",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/mental-capacity-act-northern-ireland-2016/section-285.json",
  "legislation": "nia/2016/18",
  "legislation_title": "Mental Capacity Act (Northern Ireland) 2016",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/mental-capacity-act-northern-ireland-2016",
  "path": "section/285",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "285",
  "heading": "Family relationships etc",
  "text": "(1) Nothing in this Act permits a decision on any of the following matters to be made on behalf of a person—\n(a) consenting to marriage or a civil partnership;\n(b) consenting to have sexual relations;\n(c) consenting to a decree of divorce or judicial separation being granted on the basis of two years' separation;\n(d) consenting to a dissolution order or separation order being made in relation to a civil partnership on the basis of two years' separation;\n(e) agreeing for any purposes of the Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 to the making of an adoption order;\n(f) discharging parental responsibilities in matters not relating to a child's property;\n(g) giving a consent under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990;\n(h) giving a consent under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008.\n(2) In subsection (1)(e) “adoption order” means—\n(a) an order under Article 12(1) of the Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987; or\n(b) any other order referred to by the definition of “adoption order” in Article 2(2) of that Order.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": "prospective",
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "substituted for s. 285(2)(a)(b)",
      "affecting": "nia/2022/18",
      "affecting_title": "Adoption and Children Act (Northern Ireland) 2022"
    },
    {
      "type": "words substituted",
      "affecting": "nia/2022/18",
      "affecting_title": "Adoption and Children Act (Northern Ireland) 2022"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nia/2016/18/section/285",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T20:19:54.781348+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}