Accountability when guardianship comes to an end

When your appointment as a guardian ends, this will mean you can no longer manage your client’s affairs as their guardian. After this, your client themselves, their new guardian or your client’s estate will manage these affairs.

As guardian, you will draw up and submit a final statement to the guardianship authority within two months of the end of the accounting period. The accounting period for the final statement will start from the beginning of the calendar year and end on the date on which your appointment as guardian ends. You can combine the previous annual statement to the final statement, if the return date for the statement is no later in the year than 31 March. You cannot be exempt from submitting a final statement. An annual and final statement form and attached instructions have been drawn up to make it easier to draw up a statement for an adult client.

As guardian, you are entitled to charge a guardian’s fee. Attach a calculation to the final statement.

Duties related to the completion of your task as a guardian

Submit the final statement to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency to the local office/point which has supervised your client’s guardianship.

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

See instructions for filling in the form (in Finnish)

Handover of property

Handover the property you have been charged with the management of to the following parties:

when a client dies to their estate
when there is a change of guardian to the new guardian
if guardianship is terminated, to the client themselves.
the recipient of the property will have the right on request to view the receipts and documents related to the annual statements and final statement

Retaining receipts

The final 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. The obligation to retain receipts and documents will continue for three years after your time as guardian has come to an end. Even after this, you may not destroy the documents. Instead, you must hand them over to the party who has the right to them.

Audit of the final statement

The guardianship authority can issue a warning in connection with the audit of the final statement also on previous annual statements. The audited final statement will be provided to the client themselves, the new guardian or one of the stakeholders to the client’s estate as notice. A stakeholder to the estate is obligated to notify other stakeholders of the final statement. A possible request for compensation of damages must be presented within three years of the date on which the final statement was received. An effort is made to audit final statements within two months of their arrival. A fee is charged for the audit.

Guardian’s fee calculators

Fee calculator (2020)

Fee calculator (2019)

Fee calculator (2018)

Fee calculator (2017)

Check list

If guardianship has ended due to the client’s death, list the name and contact information for at least one of the stakeholders to your client's estate.
The guardianship authority will supply a copy of the final statement and a possible invoice.
It is the guardian’s task to take care of the audit payment from the estate’s assets. If the estate inventory deed has been drawn up before the final statement is submitted, you can attach it to the final statement. You can draw up and submit the final statement even if an estate inventory has been held.

Processing period

An effort is made to review final statements immediately, within about 2 months of their arrival.

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.

Fees

The audit fee will be determined according to your client’s assets at the end of the accounting period, if your client's net income for the year exceeds 8,147 euros. The audit fee will be halved if the accounting period is less than half a year in length.

Gross assets:

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 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 supervise how you fare in the management of your duties as a guardian by auditing your statements

Links to laws related to the matter

Guardianship Services Act (442/1999)

Government Decree on the fee of a guardian (696/2012)

Ministry of Finance Decree on Fees Charged by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency

Frequently asked questions

A guardian’s task comes to an end at the time a client dies, and, for this reason, you cannot manage affairs related to the estates of the deceased person in your role as guardian. If you want to manage affairs even after your client’s death and you are not a stakeholder in the estate, all the stakeholders in the estate must a authorise you to manage the estate’s affairs. If you are a stakeholder in the estate, you will manage the estate’s affairs in the role of a stakeholder.

The use of e-services on behalf of your client is usually not possible after your task has come to an end. However, as guardian, you will have the right to get all the bank statements to the final date of your time as guardian. You can prove the validity of your task with an extract from the Register of Guardianship Affairs, which has been sent to you at the beginning of your task as guardian.

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