Application for the appointment of a guardian

You can apply for a guardian if you have reached the age of 18 and are unable to manage your financial affairs due to an illness, deteriorated health or other similar reason. The prerequisite for this is that your affairs cannot be managed in any other way.

A guardian may be appointed to manage your property and financial affairs, or a guardian may be appointed to perform an individual task, such as the sale of a property or the distribution of inheritance. A guardian may be appointed to manage financial matters for a fixed period (e.g. two years) or the appointment may remain in force until further notice.

A private person may be appointed to the task of guardian if they give their consent to taking on the task and are suitable for the task. A public guardian may also be appointed to act as a guardian of several persons. A public guardian’s full-time job is to is manage the financial affairs of several different people.

The guardian is accountable to the supervisory authority for the performance of their duties. The guardian has the right to receive a reasonable fee for the performance of their duties and compensation for necessary expenses. The guardian has an obligation to observe professional secrecy.

The duties of the guardian can be terminated, if you no longer need guardianship. The duties of the guardian and the period of validity of the appointment can also be changed.

If the guardian is disqualified from performing their duties or unable to perform their duties due to illness/other absence, a substitute can be assigned for the guardian. A guardian may be disqualified to represent you, for example, in a property transaction, because the guardian themselves or their child is the other party to the transaction.

Do the following

  • Fill in an application for the appointment of a guardian (in Finnish).

Fill in the application

  • Send the application to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.
  • The necessary attachments include a medical opinion on your state of health and the consent of a private person to take on a guardian’s duties

Price

The appointment of a guardian costs 123 euros/decision. The fee will not be charged if the net annual income of the applicant, including their social benefits provided in cash, is less than EUR 8,147.

Processing period

The estimated processing time is 6 months.

As a rule, cases are processed in their order of arrival. In individual cases, the processing time may be shorter or longer than expected depending on the number of cases pending at the moment and the complexity of the matter in question. The processing time will be prolonged if the authority has to wait for the relevant information from the applicant or other parties (e.g. a medical opinion).

Links to laws related to the matter

Guardianship Services Act (442/1999), Unofficial translation in English (pdf)

Decree of the Ministry of Finance on the Fees Charged for Digital and Population Data Services Agency in 2022 (1136/2021), in Finnish

Decree of the Ministry of Finance on the Fees Charged for Digital and Population Data Services Agency in 2021 (969/2020), in Finnish

Guardianship Services contact information

Email

When sending an email, please use the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s secure email to ensure that your information is sent securely. Select [email protected] as the recipient in the secure mail

Send the email as a secure email

Postal address

Property inventories, annual statements and final statements must be sent to the postal address of the service location.

All other post to the Guardianship Service must be sent to the address:
Digital and Population Data Services Agency / Guardianship, PO Box 1004, FI-00531 Helsinki

Telephone number

The telephone service is open 9.00-12.00 on weekdays

Service number +358 295 536 256

Service locations

Addresses of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s service location