Physical incapacity refers to a lack of physical ability sufficient to justify a legal consequence. The term is used across a realm of laws regarding disability, competency, criminal statutes, and marriage laws. The inclusion of the descriptor physical is meant to distinguish this type of incapacity from emotional incapacity, the inability to control one’s emotions due to mental illness.
Physical incapacity is often a standard that must be met to qualify for certain disability benefits under various federal and state laws. For example, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (Title 45 §233.90) program includes mental and physical incapacity of a parent as grounds for benefits, defining physical or mental incapacity as “a physical or mental defect, illness, or impairment” that is “supported by competent medical testimony and must be of such a debilitating nature as to reduce substantially or eliminate the parent's ability to support or care for the otherwise eligible child and be expected to last for a period of at least 30 days.”
In the context of marriage, physical incapacity can refer to inability to consummate a marriage due to impotence. For example, Hawaii Revised Statutes §580-28 provides that “An action to annul the marriage on the ground of physical incapacity of one of the parties at the time of marriage, shall only be maintained by the injured party, against the party whose incapacity is alleged, and shall in all cases be brought within two years from the solemnization of the marriage.”
[Last updated in February of 2024 by the Wex Definitions Team]