Guardianship

For a minor child, a guardian is appointed by the court:

• if both parents cannot or do not want to take sufficient care of your child's affairs. In this case, the parents are often deprived of parental authority.
• if both parents with custody die or, if only one parent has custody, if he or she dies.
• if it is not possible to determine who the parents of a child are.

A specific person, an association or the local youth welfare office can be appointed as guardian.
The Youth Welfare Office automatically becomes guardian if a minor unmarried mother has a child. This does not apply if the father of the child is of legal age, paternity is established before birth and the parents have made a declaration of joint parental authority. This guardianship ends as soon as the mother reaches the age of majority. In addition to this guardianship "by operation of law", there are additional regulations as to when guardianship does not occur or in which cases it also occurs. Information on this can be obtained from the Youth Welfare Office.

Instead of guardianship, guardianship is also possible. A guardianship covers only some areas of guardianship, e.g. right of residence and health care.

Duties of the guardian:
The guardian represents the child in all legal matters. For example, he submits applications to authorities, conducts lawsuits, grants operational consents and manages their assets. The guardian also decides where the child lives and which school he attends.

The youth welfare office of your district or your independent city.