Other

Home / Knowledge Base / Guardianship and Adoption / Other

Guardianship and Adoption

Articles0 Results

Is there a constitutional right to legal representation and access to courts ?

Guardianship and Adoption •Other

Yes.

Could confidential information given to a professional by an adult patient with severe emotional problems be used against him/her, in the patient’s eyes ?

Guardianship and Adoption •Other

Yes, in certain circumstances. The Treatment of The Mentally Ill Act of 1991 does allow a doctor to divulge information about the treatment of a patient to his/her legal guardian or relative. Where the information is needed in connection with the appointment of a guardian for the patient, and the patient’s parents are under a legal obligation to act to protect their child, even if he/she is an adult , as is the case where he/she is unable of taking care of him/herself or his/her own affairs , then the doctor is legally obliged to release it.

Can the wife of an man who receives full-time care in an institution, following illness, and is no longer capable of looking after himself, be appointed as his legal guardian ?

Guardianship and Adoption •Other

Yes ! The family court can appoint the wife as his guardian, under the 1962 Legal Capacity and Guardianship Act, if he is unable to look after himself and his affairs.

My daughter is 19 and looks like a skeleton. She has an eating disorder (anorexia) which developed during adolescence out of the usual slimming teenage craze. She now refuses to attend the special hospital programme she started. I feel helpless seeing her withering away before me – can she be forced to get professional help now that she is over 18 ?

Guardianship and Adoption •Other

Yes. In such a situation a parent can be appointed by court to become a guardian for their adult child in this specific matter and give written permission for her forced hospitalisation in a unit designed to deal with the eating disorder.

Can a relative of an adult with severe emotional problems take legal action to become legally responsible for him and to prevent him leaving the country, after getting a “tip-off ” from a professional that he is a danger to himself and others ?

Guardianship and Adoption •Other

Yes, if an adult is deemed by a professional to be in a severe mental state that prevents him/her being responsible for his/her own affairs and poses a threat to himself and /or others , a relative can apply to court to become his/her legal guardian, and also for an order to prevent him/her leaving the country. The Legal Capacity and Guardianship Act of 1962 gives the court wide powers to act in such situations.

I am legal guardian for a mentally retarded person living with me. She inherited equal shares in her late parents’ home, together with her brothers. They brothers want to sell it – are they entitled to do so by themselves ?

Guardianship and Adoption •Other

No, under the Legal Capacity & Guardianship Law of 1962 prior permission must be obtained from the court for legal acts (such as selling property rights) requiring registration conducted on behalf of an adult who is incapable of looking after his/her affairs and for whom a legal guardian has been appointed.

Questions and Answers6 Results

* We hope you find our website useful and easy to use. Please note, however, that the information provided on it is not a substitute for personal legal counselling which is available upon payment.