Accountability at the beginning of guardianship
Once you have been appointed the guardian for your client, who is an adult the authority will supervise your actions. The first thing you must do once you have been appointed guardian is to draw up an inventory of your client’s assets and debts, which you will submit with its attachments to the agency.
As guardian you will submit a property inventory to the guardship authority within three months of stepping into your position. The inventory must include all your client’s assets and debts the management of which has been given to you.
Attach copies of the necessary documents and receipts to the inventory. The inventory and its attachments will not be returned to you.
The information you provide in the property inventory is also the preliminary data for the first annual statement. As a guardian, you must maintain records so you can draw up an annual statement on their basis each year. You will need to attach receipts/documents from which the accounting period’s financial activities can be verified. The annual statement and its attachments will be returned to you after the audit for safekeeping. It is your responsibility to see to the retainment of documents that have accumulated over your period as guardian.
As guardian, you may not disclose information on the client to others without the client’s consent. A guardian’s obligation to secrecy also applies to audit materials.
Do the following
- First read the instructions
Property inventory instructions - Adult client (in Finnish)
- Fill in, print and sign the property inventory form.
Property inventory form - Adult client (in Finnish)
- Please return the form and its attachments to your local agency offices within three months of the start of your assignment.
An effort is made to review property inventories soon after their arrival. If it becomes apparent during the audit that more information is needed, you will be contacted.
Check list
- Keep accounting records from the very beginning of your assignment.
- Keep account statements and receipts in a format that ensures you have access to them when necessary.
- Retain the documents you acquired during your time as guardian, remember your obligation to secrecy and due diligence.
- Draw up a property inventory.
- Attach copies of the necessary attachments, the property inventory will not be returned to you.
- Survey of property and determination of fair value (apartments, properties, shares in estates, savings, safe deposit boxes, funds, listed or other stocks, investment insurance, valuables, vehicles)
- Survey of debts (bank, enforcement, collections agencies, guarantees, debt instruments, debt arrangements)
- Contact the bank (changes to access rights for account, opening a running expenses account, arrangement of accounts)
- Pension notifications, tax and benefits decisions (ask for notifications and decisions for yourself, steer the income to the account to which you as the guardian have access.
- Valid agreements (lease, sheltered housing, treatment costs, insurances)
- Taking care of running matters (payment of bills and their transfer to the guardian, address changes, review of/application for benefits)
- Agree with your client on the practices for use of money
- Determine whether a property management plan needs to be confirmed for the client’s property, for example in the case of forest property
Key terms
Client
Person on whose behalf you are acting
Guardian
Person charged with the management of a client’s financial and wealth-related affairs
Property inventory
A list where the guardian reports the client’s property including debts according to the start date of guardianship.
Annual statement
An account on the management of your client’s property that is submitted once each calendar year
Final statement
An account on the management of your client’s property from the beginning of the calendar year to the date on which guardianship comes to an end.
Audit of statements
The guardianship authority will review the annual and final statements you have drawn up.
Links to laws related to the matter
Guardianship Services Act (442/1999)
Government Decree on the fee of a guardian (696/2012)
Decree of the Ministry of Finance on the Fees Charged for Digital and Population Data Services Agency in 2022 (1136/2021), in Finnish
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you are. You are obligated to secrecy in all matters related to your duties as guardian. However, your client can give you the right to discuss matters concerning them with a third party or to disclose information concerning the client.
During your time as guardian, you are entitled to access all the information your client has the right to access.
The Finnish Tax Administration website contains formulas for the calculation of various situations.
You cannot represent yourself as a debtor and the client as the creditor. You are thus disqualified, and you must look for someone to act as a substitute guardian. In addition, lending money from your client’s assets is subject to a licence. The loan must include interest and a guarantee. Giving a loan must in any case be in the interest of your client. A decision on the licence will be subject to a charge and the decision can be a negative one.
Not on the initiative of the guardian. Only the client can give gifts. If the client wants to give a gift, which is considered normal in the circumstances and insignificant in financial value, the guardian can carry out the matter at the request of the client. The client must always understand the meaning of giving a gift and be able to independently make the choice on giving a gift. If the client does not understand the meaning of giving a gift, the guardian cannot give a gift even if it is of little financial value.
Yes, you can. There is a separate calculator (in Finnish) for the calculation of a guardian’s fee. As guardian, you will report your fee to the Incomes Register. Read the instructions on how to submit guardianship fee data to the Incomes Register.
As guardian, you have the right to receive compensation for expenses, which have resulted from the management of your client’s financial affairs. You must always manage your client's affairs in the manner that is most appropriate and affordable. You must provide calculation on expenses, which have resulted from the management of your client’s financial affairs. As guardian, you cannot directly base expenses on the kilometre expenses determined by the Finnish Tax Administration or Kela. As guardian, you will submit a request for compensation for necessary expenses.
If you have not been appointed to handle your client’s personal affairs, you cannot charge compensation for expenses for the management of this type of matters (e.g. grocery shopping, doctor’s visits, health and recreational visits). Your role as a family member must also always be separate from your role as guardian; the tasks you handle in your role as a family member, cannot be charged for during guardianship. As guardian, you will also report compensation for expenses to the Incomes Register. See instructions for reporting data to the Incomes Register.
Edunvalvojan käyttämä pankkitili on valvontatili
Edunvalvoja on kaikista valvontatileistä tilivelvollinen holhousviranomaiselle. Edunvalvoja käyttää normaalisti yhtä pankkitiliä, josta maksaa päämiehensä laskut. Valvontatileihin on ainoastaan edunvalvojalla käyttöoikeus.
Päämiehellä on käytössä käyttövaratili
Edunvalvoja avaa tehtävänsä alkaessa päämiehelle omaan käyttöön jäävän käyttövaratilin. Edunvalvoja ja päämies sopivat yhdessä käyttövarojen määrästä ja niiden maksuajoista. Edunvalvojalla ei ole käyttöoikeutta päämiehen käyttövaratiliin, eikä hänellä ole tilivelvollisuutta tästä tilistä.
Guardianship Services contact information
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
- Individuals
- Processing times
- Marriage
- Having or adopting a child
- Names
- Moving
- Guardianship
- Continuing power of attorney
- Appointment of a guardian
- Duties of the guardian
- Guardianship for a minor
- Who can act as a guardian?
- Actions that require the permission of the guardianship authority
- Appointing a substitute guardian
- Termination of guardianship
- Giving up the guardian’s task
- Guardianship authority's means of supervision
- Looking after the interests of an absent person or the future owner of the property
- Restrictions to competency and declaration of incompetence
- Extracts from the Register of Guardianship Affairs
- Information for doctors, authorities and other parties
- Life changes while living abroad
- Registration of a child born abroad
- Marriage concluded abroad
- Partnership registered abroad
- Divorce granted abroad
- Registration of a name change performed abroad
- Gender recognised abroad
- Death abroad
- Registration of citizenship
- Notification of retaining Finnish citizenship
- Legalisation of foreign documents
- Submitting foreign documents
- As a foreigner in Finland
- Check your own personal details
- Elections and Right to vote
- Suomi.fi Web Service
- Citizen Certificate and electronic identity
- Certificates from the Population Information System
- Population information in the Population Information System
- Registration of a gift notification
- Services of notary public
- Certification of purchase
- Citizens’ initiative
- Death and estate inventory
- Public Service Info
- Address service
- Forms
- Digital support for citizens
- Organisations
- Certificates
- Updating customer registers
- Sampling services
- Search services of the Population Information System
- Local Register Office Register search services
- Extracts from registers
- Maintaining the Population Information System
- Suomi.fi services
- Services to promote digitalisation
- Digital support
- Digital identity reform
- Digital security services
- Services of notary public
- Certification of purchase
- Right to officiate weddings
- E-services
- Finnish Authenticator identification service
- About the agency