The assessment of the individual needs for care is of high importance for community-based mental health care and planning processes. Current German assessment instruments are characterized by considerable limitations concerning their practicability. Furthermore social legislation lacks clear statements for defining some procedural aspects. This applies to (1) the assessment of the dynamics of the needs for care, (2) to the definition of the professional competence of possible raters, (3) to the decision-making processes during the course of complementary care measures and (4) to the integration of the patient's perspective on his needs into the normative needs concept. All current deficits, outlined in this article, simultaneously define future research tasks.