Being placed under guardianship against your will

Being placed under guardianship against your will

"My family situation is very conflictual. I have a disability. My mother and brothers want to put me under curatorship for a supposedly serious mental disorder. However, my problems are only physical. Can my mother and brothers demand that I be placed under guardianship? If so, what is the risk of such a measure being imposed when I am perfectly capable of managing my affairs on my own and several doctors can attest to this?

R, Geneva

Under Swiss law, there are three types of measure to protect a person from the consequences of their own actions: guardianship, legal advice and curatorship.

Briefly, guardianship of an adult entails both prohibition, i.e. the withdrawal of the exercise of civil rights, and the appointment of a guardian to do so. Legal guardianship is generally established for the sole purpose of protecting the economic interests of the person concerned and therefore entails only a partial deprivation of the exercise of civil rights. Guardianship responds to specific needs and exceptional situations that are generally limited in time. It does not affect civil capacity.

Guardianship may be instituted, for example, for the purposes of representation or the management of assets, in cases of restricted capacity for discernment. In Geneva, the request may be made by the person themselves, their spouse, their registered partner, or one of their relatives up to and including the fourth degree.

Your mother and brothers therefore have the right to make such a request. However, they will not have much influence on the decision that the authority takes. Under no circumstances can they demand such a measure. In any case, before instituting curatorship, the authority must hear the person concerned and inform him or her properly about the measure. The authority will, on its own initiative, take all the necessary steps to form its own opinion. If there is any doubt, it must request an expert opinion. However, if several doctors can attest that you do not need any outside help and that there is no doubt requiring an expert opinion, the authority will certainly not order such a measure.

In any event, should guardianship be established against your will, you always have the option of opposing it by appealing to the Court of Justice within 30 days. It should also be noted that an application for the curatorship to be lifted may be made at any time by the person concerned or by any interested party. The aim is to show that the reasons for its introduction no longer exist.