It probably depends on the jurisdiction , but at least in my home state and in CA with Laura ' s Law , you don ' t have to prove someone is mentally incompetent to get a court order mandating they undergo a psych eval . And from there , the doctor psychologist can compel the person to receive further treatment as they see fit . My state has pretty much the same legal framework in place as California and basically just need to show up at the court house , fill out a short form , have a 5 minute hearing to explain the situation , and there are no court fees . My sister had some sort of anxietyinduced break a couple months ago and I had to go through the process with her when she refused to go to the ER for a psych eval . During the period when she was in the psych hospital , though , I didn ' t have any sort of access to her finances and I would have needed power of attorney over her to make medical decisions for her after she was committed , the hospital wouldn ' t let me talk to her or even confirm she was there as there was no one available to give consent . In order to have access to someone ' s estate and make legal financial decisions for them , you ' d need to be named their legal guardian conservator respectively , which does indeed have a higher standard of proof pretty much for the reasons you say .