- Marriage
- Examination of impediments to marriage
- Marriage ceremony
- Prenuptial agreement
- Notification of a marriage concluded abroad
- Divorce granted abroad
- Registration of the act applicable to the matrimonial property regime
- Registration of a deed of division of property
- Dissolution of cohabitation
- Removal of marital rights to property
- Extracts issued of the register on the right to officiate at weddings
- Having or adopting a child
- Names
- Moving
- Elections and Right to vote
- Suomi.fi Web Service
- Citizen Certificate and electronic identity
- 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
- Permit to buy or sell a dwelling
- Permit for purchase or sale of real estate
- Permit for the partition or separation of property and the division of inheritance
- Renunciation of inheritance, for the surrender of one’s share of an inheritance or an agreement on the joint administration of an estate
- Engaging in trade or the establishment of a company
- Property management plan
- Pledging of property and for borrowing and lending
- Leasing or investing a client’s property
- Limited account or the management of the earnings
- 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
- 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
- Living abroad
- Moving
- Registration of citizenship
- Divorce granted abroad
- Death abroad
- Registration of a child born abroad
- Registration of a name change performed abroad
- Notification of a marriage concluded abroad
- Registration of the act applicable to the matrimonial property regime
- Legalisation of foreign documents
- Notification of retaining Finnish citizenship
- Moving to Finland
- Public Service Info
- Address service
- Forms
Entry into force of a power of attorney
A power of attorney will enter into force only after the Digital and Population Data Services Agency has confirmed it.
Confirmation of power of attorney
You can apply for the confirmation of power of attorney if you have been appointed as donee in another person's power of attorney. The precondition for the confirmation of the power of attorney is that the person (donor) who has signed the power of attorney document has become unable to management their own affairs due to their deteriorating health. For the purpose of the confirmation, you must obtain a medical certificate or other comparable and reliable account on the donor’s health.
You can also apply for the confirmation of power of attorney if you have been appointed as the deputy donee in the power of attorney and, the actual donee for reasons related to disqualification, illness or for some other reason, is temporarily prevented from performing their duties. The actual donee can be disqualified for example if the donee, their child, or spouse or some other person who the donee represents is a party to the matter at hand. Parties include the seller and buyer, the landlord and the tenant, or the widow(er) and heirs to an estate.
You can also apply for the confirmation of power of attorney when you have been appointed secondary donee in the power of attorney document and the donee does not accept the position or steps down from it.
This is what to do
Obtain a medical certificate on the donor’s state of health for the confirmation of the power of attorney.
Complete the application for the confirmation of power of attorney.
Submit the application, the medical certificate, and the original power of attorney document to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.
The processing of the matter will be faster if the application is accompanied by a statement by the donor and/or a statement by the donor's spouse. A statement by the donor is needed if he or she understands the importance of the power of attorney. In addition to the statement of the donor, a statement from the donor’s spouse is usually also needed.
Price
The decision fee for confirming power of attorney is EUR 130.
Processing time
Nationally, the processing of a power of attorney matter takes approximately three months. This processing time estimate is indicative. 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).
As a rule, cases are processed in their order of arrival.
Frequently asked questions about acting as a donee
The donee will submit an application to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency for confirmation of the power of attorney. The application can be submitted on an application form with the original power of attorney document and a medical certificate, which concerns the donor’s ability to manage their own affairs, as its attachments. Read more about confirmation here (link to the webpage for the confirmation of continuing power of attorney).
The donee has the right to obtain a medical certificate on the donor. The physician is therefore obliged to issue a medical certificate to the donee who has been granted power of attorney to confirm the power of attorney. If no medical certificate is attached to the application, the guardianship authority will ask the donee to supplement the application in this respect. This will delay the processing of the matter by the authorities. The guardianship authority does not therefore request a medical certificate from healthcare providers. This is one of the donee’s duties. It is determined on a case-by-case basis how new the medical certificate concerning the matter must be.
Within a period of three months of a power of attorney being confirmed, the donee must submit to the guardianship authority a property inventory on the donor’s assets and debts that the power of attorney mandates the donee to manage. If the donor subsequently receives property, the inventory on acquired property must be submitted with a month of receiving the property.
If the donor becomes a stakeholder in an estate, the donee must submit the estate inventory deed to the guardianship authority within a month of the estate inventory being settled.
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 1001, FI-02151 Espoo
Telephone number
The telephone service is open 9.00-12.00 on weekdays
Service number +358 295 536 256
Chat service
You can also contact us via chat at our web pages. Chat service is open Mon-Fri from 9.00 to 15.00. Please do not give sensitive information, such as your personal ID number on the chat.
Service locations
Addresses of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s service location
- Individuals
- Marriage
- Examination of impediments to marriage
- Marriage ceremony
- Prenuptial agreement
- Notification of a marriage concluded abroad
- Divorce granted abroad
- Registration of the act applicable to the matrimonial property regime
- Registration of a deed of division of property
- Dissolution of cohabitation
- Removal of marital rights to property
- Extracts issued of the register on the right to officiate at weddings
- Having or adopting a child
- Names
- Moving
- Elections and Right to vote
- Suomi.fi Web Service
- Citizen Certificate and electronic identity
- 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
- 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
- Living abroad
- Moving
- Registration of citizenship
- Divorce granted abroad
- Death abroad
- Registration of a child born abroad
- Registration of a name change performed abroad
- Notification of a marriage concluded abroad
- Registration of the act applicable to the matrimonial property regime
- Legalisation of foreign documents
- Notification of retaining Finnish citizenship
- Moving to Finland
- Public Service Info
- Address service
- Forms
- Marriage
- Organisations
- Certificates
- Updating customer registers
- Sampling and analysis 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 security services
- Services of notary public
- Certification of purchase
- Right to officiate weddings
- E-services
- About the agency