Registration of a minor’s guardianship and accountability

As the person with custody of a minor child, you are also the child’s statutory guardian and manage the child’s financial affairs. The guardianship of a minor child is registered when the child's property exceeds EUR 20,000 in value. Potential debts are not deducted when calculating the total value of the property.

In practice, registering guardianship means that you must draw up an annual statement on the financial affairs of your minor child. Your accountability will end when your child turns 18 or if the guardianship of your underage child is removed from the Register of Guardianship Affairs. A minor child does is not capable of taking care of their own interests and rights at their age, so you are charged with taking care of them on the child’s behalf. The guardianship authority will guide you in this task, but will also monitor on behalf of the minor that you carry out your duties appropriately.

The guardianship of a minor child is removed from the register when the value of the child's property has permanently fallen to EUR 15,000 or less. If the value of the child's property decreases due to the actions of the guardian, the guardianship will not be removed from the register.

Even so, your task managing the finances of your minor child will continue even if the guardianship of the minor is removed from the register. In this case, however, there is no obligation to submit financial statements to the authority.

Accountability

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 guardianship authority will investigate the need to register the guardianship of a minor by requesting that you provide a property inventory of the minor’s assets and debts. You need to compile the property inventory only once. The inventory will not be returned to you.

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. The statement 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 18. 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.

The obligation to submit annual statements will also cease if the guardianship of a minor is removed from the register.

For a justified reason, the guardianship authority can extend an accounting period or exempt a guardian from their obligation to submit an annual statement. An exemption is never given from the submission of a final statement.

Check list

Make sure that the ownership of all the property of a minor is listed under the name of the minor.
Keep account statements and receipt in a format that ensures you have access to them when necessary.
Review the instructions for completing the property inventory, annual statement and final statement forms
Attach copies the necessary attachments to the property inventory, annual statement and final statement.
An annual statement will be returned after the audit. Review the entries and possible warning made by the auditor

Do the following

As statutory guardian, you must notify the guardianship authority of the property owned by the minor if the value of the property without deducting any debts exceeds EUR 20,000.
Submit the notification with the property inventory form within a month of the minor receiving the property.

Property inventory - minor client (in Finnish)

Instructions for a property inventory (in Finnish)

If the guardianship of a minor has been registered, submit an annual statement to the guardianship authority within three months of the end of the financial year. Submit a final statement to the guardianship authority without delay after the minor has reached the age of majority.

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

Annual and final statement form instructions (in Finnish)

You can request that the guardianship of a minor child be removed from the register when the value of the minor's property has permanently fallen to EUR 15,000 or less. Submit a free-form notification.

Price

Registration and removal from the register are free of charge.

Processing period

Audit: Target processing time 4 months. As a rule, cases are processed in their order of arrival. In individual cases, the processing time may be less or more than this depending on the size and complexity of the matter. Processing times are longer when not all necessary reports have been included as attachments.

Key terms

Property inventory

A list detailing the property of a minor including debts at the start of supervision.

Annual statement

A statement on the management of the minor’s property that is submitted once each calendar year.

Final statement

A statement on the management of a minor’s property for the period for which an annual statement has not been submitted.

Frequently asked questions

You can examine sales price statistics to compare the going price, of similar apartments/properties.
The value can be justified also on the basis of renovation or improvement work completed at the location.
For more information on forest holding, please see the Metsaan.fi service.
Estate inventory deeds or inheritance settlement deeds if these are recent.

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.

The guardianship authority may consider releasing the guardian from their obligation to submit an annual statement or setting the statement period as longer than one year if the nature of the minor's property is such that the minor's best interest does not require the drawing up of an annual statement. For example, if a minor’s property mainly consists of real property or apartments that

a guardian cannot hand over without the permission of the guardianship authority, an annual statement may not be necessary. If necessary, the guardianship authority may reverse its decision, for example if the assets of a minor are sold. A guardian can be released from the obligation to submit an annual statement for the time being or for a fixed period. However, the decision does not exempt the guardian from the obligation to draw up and submit a final statement. A final statement must be drawn up for the period for which no statement has previously been submitted.

The guardianship authority may consider removing the guardianship of a minor from the Register of Guardianship Affairs when the value of the minor's property has permanently fallen to below EUR 15,000. However, guardianship cannot be removed from the register if the reduction in the value of the minor’s property was caused by measures taken by the guardian that were contrary to the interests of the minor. Other special reasons may also be an obstacle for removing guardianship from the register.

Example: The guardianship of a minor has been entered in the Register of Guardianship Affairs, as the minor’s share of the estate's assets without deduction of the debts of the deceased or the estate (gross value) exceeds EUR 20,000. After the payment of the deceased’s and the estate’s debts, the estate has been divided and the minor has received assets worth EUR 10,000 in the distribution of inheritance. The minor has no other property and the decrease in the value of the property has not been caused by measures taken by the guardian that are contrary to the interests of the minor. As the value of the minor's property has been permanently reduced to less than EUR 15,000, the guardianship of the minor may be removed from the Register of Guardianship Affairs, if there are no other special reasons for keeping the guardianship in the register.

The guardianship authority may initiate a coercive measure process in which the guardian is obliged to submit a statement at the risk of a fine or at the risk that the statement will be drawn up at the expense of the guardian. In such cases, the

guardianship authority may also assess the suitability of the guardian for their duties. If the guardian proves inappropriate or unable to act as the guardian of a minor, they may be released from their duties as guardian and a new guardian may be appointed to the minor if necessary.

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

Registration of a minor’s guardianship and accountability

Accountability

Check list

Do the following

Price

Processing period

Key terms

Frequently asked questions

What is an accounting period?

Who prepares an annual and final statement for the guardianship authority?

How is property valued?

How can I determine fair value?

Can I as a guardian borrow money from the client?

When can the guardian of a minor be pronounced exempt from their obligation to submit an annual statement or the statement period be set to last longer than a year?

When can the guardianship of a minor be removed from the Register of Guardianship Affairs?

What happens if a guardian with accountability does not submit an annual statement on the management of a minor’s property to the guardianship authority?