Guardianship and managing the affairs of another person 

Suomi.fi e-Authorizations is an easy solution for acting on behalf of another person or organisation in various situations. In Suomi.fi e-Authorizations you can grant a company or a person aged 18 or over the right to act on your behalf should you so wish. In practice, a mandate in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations is an electronic power of attorney, the details of which are entered in the authorisation register. It can be used in the electronic services provided by various authorities, for example. Read more about e-Authorizations and the various authorities using the authorisation service in the Suomi.fi Web Service.

If the person is able to write a power of attorney and understand its significance, they can write a power of attorney to authorise a designated person to handle a specific matter. A power of attorney can be used in various services, in bank transactions and for dealing with different authorities, for example.  

A power of attorney 

• must be prepared in writing  
• is valid as soon as it has been written 
• is valid until further notice, unless otherwise provided in the power of attorney. 

Businesses and authorities (e.g. the Social Insurance Institution of Finland; Kela) may have their own templates for power of attorney. In such cases, we advise you to contact them directly. 

The party you are dealing with will assess the acceptability of the power of attorney in the transaction situation. For example, banks may not accept a power of attorney if the functional capacity of the grantor of the power of attorney has deteriorated after the power of attorney has been granted.  

The grantor of the power of attorney is responsible for supervising the activities of the person they have authorised. 

You should discuss the ways in which bills could be paid with your own bank.  

• E-invoices are a good option if you use online banking services. E-invoices can be automatically debited from the account (direct debiting). For regular payments, you can make a recurring payment order to your bank. 
• Regular invoices can be paid by direct payment if online banking is not being used. 
• Online banking codes often make it possible to pay bills by calling the bank’s customer service line.  
• You may also be able to pay the bill at an R-kiosk, for example, if your bank’s offices are located far away. 

You can give a trusted person access to your account if, for example, you find using the account challenging yourself. The authorisation is given at your own bank and will require the identification of the assignor. You should ask your own bank about its policies regarding this matter. The party entitled to use the account may be granted a card to the account, so they can withdraw money from the assignor's account or pay for purchases they make on behalf of the assignor. 

You can anticipate your need for support and prepare a continuing power of attorney in case you later become unable to manage your affairs. The authorisation is recorded in a continuing power of attorney, in which you can name the person who will have the right to manage your affairs. You can also state how your affairs may be managed and specify how the assignee's activities are to be supervised. It is therefore a more flexible and lighter way of organising the management of your affairs for the future than appointing a guardian.  

Watch our short video: Continuing power of attorney – when you want to decide for yourself

If you have prepared a continuing power of attorney, the assignee can ask for validation of their authorisation from us when you are no longer able to manage your own affairs. 

A person’s pension or other benefits can be paid directly to the municipality if they are the person's only source of income/assets and  

• the money is used to pay for the person’s rent or other equivalent housing costs. The rest is given to them as spending money. In this situation, the benefits cannot be paid directly to the person because it could endanger their own or their family's livelihood. Setting up an intermediate account like this can be requested from the social worker of the person’s municipality of residence. The request must be made by the person themselves, their spouse, their other close relative or carer, or the relevant municipal body.  
• the money is used to pay the monthly client fees related to the person’s institutional care. The rest is directed to the person’s own account. 

A client can receive support for the independent management of their affairs at the care facility. The person can understand the matters, but cannot physically manage them. In this case, payments can be directly debited, for example. 

A fully qualified adult can act on behalf of another adult in MyKanta if they have Suomi.fi e-Authorization for it. 

At the moment, guardians cannot use the MyKanta service on behalf of their adult clients. 

Read more from the kanta.fi website.

Different authorities have their own power of attorney templates and service channels that enable a trusted person to act on behalf of a person.  

Read more about acting on behalf of another person from the websites of Kela and the Tax Administration, for example. 

You cannot use someone else’s online banking codes as the codes are unique to each individual. You can, however, help someone else use their codes. 

If you need to help a person close to you to manage their official matters electronically, the person in question can grant you the right to act on their behalf by using Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. A mandate granted via Suomi.fi e-Authorizations is an electronic power of attorney.