Your appointment

You will either have been appointed as a guardian or an interim guardian. Interim powers are usually granted when there is a matter to be dealt with urgently ahead of the Sheriff making a final decision about the powers you asked for.

Welfare powers

Once appointed you will be issued with a copy of the court order, which will set out the powers that you have been given. We are also given a copy of the order and on receipt of this we will register your appointment. We will issue you with a certificate of appointment, along with a further copy of the court order. We will also notify the local authority and the Mental Welfare Commission about your appointment.

It will be the responsibility of the local authority to supervise your appointment and give you guidance after this. If anyone has concerns about how a welfare guardian is using their powers, they should contact the local authority or the Mental Welfare Commission for further information.

As we have no supervisory responsibility for welfare guardians, we will not contact you again until 6 months before your powers are due to expire.

Financial powers

Once appointed you will be issued with a copy of the court order, which will set out the powers that you have been given. We are also given a copy of the order and on receipt of this we will register your appointment and issue your certificate of appointment along with inventory of estate and management plan forms. You should note that until we approve your management plan the powers that you can use are limited.

However, if caution has been set by the Sheriff, we will not register the appointment until we are told that you have the bond of caution in place. When caution is in place we will issue you with a certificate of appointment, along with a further copy of the court order.

We charge a fee to register the order and fees might be required for some of the services we provide. There are certain circumstances where you might be entitled to a fee exemption.

If the adult has heritable property in Scotland such as a house or land, the Sheriff may direct you to apply to the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland to have the court order recorded in the Land or Sasine register. Usually the solicitor assisting with the application will do this for you. You should check with your solicitor that this is done.

The Keeper will confirm to us when the register is updated with the details.

It is important this is complied with as you may experience difficulty in selling the property at a future date if the court order is not registered with the Keeper.

If the adult has heritable property outside Scotland, you will need to inform the appropriate jurisdiction so that the relevant property register can be updated.