Support administration and freedom to marry

The flexibility inherent in the measure of support administration and its aim to preserve the beneficiary’s self-determination raise the question of whether the judge may, pursuant to Article 411, paragraph 4, extend to the beneficiary the prohibition of marriage applicable to an interdicted person. The essay reviews the various positions in legal scholarship and case law, highlighting the reasons that, in certain cases, support the possibility of limiting this right for the protection – rather than to the detriment – of the beneficiary. This is done with the understanding that, in this context, mechanisms for substituting the beneficiary’s will cannot arise, thereby excluding the possibility that the administrator may consent to marriage on behalf of a beneficiary who is unable to do so independently.