Timing a Guardianship application and some preliminary issues -

Timing of Guardianship application and some preliminary issues

These applications are to the local sheriff court.
Courts won’t entertain applications till 3 months prior to a child’s 16th birthday.
Handy tip one: Diary forward to start the process on the child’s 15th birthday.
Handy tip two: Be patient, this takes a while and solicitors are not in charge of timescale.
It takes 2 – 3 months for a Guardianship application to be prepared and submitted.
That process is usually only started after Legal Aid (LA) is granted.
After submission of the application timescales depend on local authority resources.
A Mental Health Officer (MHO) reports on the suitability of the applicant to be a Guardian.
Some local authority areas take longer than others.
In the Guardianship application you have to list all the powers you want.
There are two categories of powers – roughly speaking – financial and welfare.
Financial powers are self-explanatory, welfare powers cover day to day living decisions.
Your solicitor must “intimate” to any interested party that this application is being lodged.
It is very rare but legally possible for objections to be lodged to the application.
That usually only happens when families are in dispute.
Whilst this is a court process in most cases the applicant never has to appear in court.
The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) oversees all Guardianships.