Florida's Baker Act provides an individual with emergency psychiatric services and allows for a temporary mandatory stay for purposes of receiving a complete mental health evaluation and subsequent treatment. It can be done on a voluntary or involuntary basis. The length of stay is no longer than 72 hours for involuntary commitment.
The Baker Act is the admittance of a person to a mental health facility for observance, diagnosis, treatment or evaluation of someone's mental state and who is permitted to the facility either voluntarily or involuntarily.
It is a law in Florida named after Maxine Baker. It aims to protect older people from being labelled insane and locked away by relatives who want their money. Its main function is to allow any apparently insane older people to be admitted and assessed properly before any longer term decisions are made about the person or their assets.
