Guardianship for a minor

The custodians of a child under the age of 18 will also act as their guardian. They must manage the minor’s property in a planned and systematic manner. A minor’s property can only be used for the minor’s benefit and for the minor’s personal needs, while taking into account that a minor’s parents are responsible for the minor’s maintenance.

If the property owned by the minor exceeds EUR 20,000, the guardianship is recorded in the register of guardianship affairs. In this case, the guardians entered into the register are accountable to the guardianship authority.

Do the following

  • As a guardian, you must report the property owned by the minor if the value of the property without deducting any debts exceeds EUR 20,000. The agency may also investigate the need to register the guardianship of a minor by requesting the guardian to provide a property inventory of the minor’s assets and debts. You only need to compile the property inventory once and the inventory will not be returned to you after you have submitted it.

Property inventory - minor client (in Finnish)

Instructions for a property inventory (in Finnish)

  • When the guardianship of the minor has been registered, submit an annual statement and the receipts to the guardianship authority once a year by 31 March of the following year. An accounting period is usually equivalent to one calendar year. An annual statement form and the instructions for completing it are available for the preparation of the statement. An annual statement will be returned to you after the audit.
  • Guardianship ends when the minor reaches the age of majority. When your responsibility as a guardian has ended, submit the final statement to the guardianship authority within two months. The content of the final statement is similar to an annual statement, but it covers only the time period that has not yet been accounted for.
  • After the guardianship authority has audited the final statement, it will give a copy of the statement and its remarks concerning the statement to the minor who has reached the aged of majority.

Annual and final statement form - minor client (in Finnish)

Annual and final statement form instructions (in Finnish)

Processing period

The average processing time for an audit is approximately 4 months.

Price

The review of the inventory is free of charge.

The audit of the annual and final statements is subject to a charge when the net annual income of a minor exceeds EUR 8,147. The size of the fee is determined on the basis of the assets of the minor at the end of the statement period. The audit fee is halved for minors. If three or more minor clients with the same guardians live in the same household, the inspection fee will be one third of the listed price.

Prices (deductions will be taken into account for these quantities)

0–34,000 €, audit fee 52 €

34,001–67,000 €, audit fee 97 €

67,001–135,000 €, audit fee 146 €

135,001–336,000 €, audit fee 240 €

336,001–840,000 €, audit fee 354 €

840,001 €–, audit fee 454 €

Key concepts

Minor

A minor is a person aged under 18. Minors do not have the right to make decisions about their property, conclude important agreements or take other significant measures. However, a minor may take measures that are normal and of a minor significance regarding the circumstances. A minor who has reached the age of 15 can make decisions about the property they have earned by working.

Guardian of a minor

The guardians of the minor are usually the minor’s parents, who have custody of the minor. If two people have custody of the minor, both of them are guardians regardless of which parent the minor lives with. They must take care of the duties of a guardian together. Sometimes, a person who does not have custody of the minor may be appointed as the guardian. The same responsibilities apply to all guardians of minors.

Guardianship authority

The Digital and Population Data Services Agency acts as the guardianship authority.

Links to laws related to the matter

Guardianship Services Act (in Finnish)

Child Maintenance Act (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

Digital and Population Data Services Agency / Guardianship, PO Box 1001, FI-02151 Espoo

With the exception of property inventories, annual statements and final statements, you can send all post to the Guardianship Service to the address listed above. The three separately specified reports must be mailed to the postal address of the service location responsible for their monitoring.

Telephone number

The telephone service is open 9.00-15.00 on weekdays

Service number +358 295 536 256

Service locations

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