Our Law Services

Represented Adult Applications & Litigation

What happens if you or someone you love loses the ability to make financial or personal decisions, without a power of attorney or personal directive in place that would appoint an individual to make those decisions?

In such cases, Alberta law allows individuals — usually family members — to apply to be the guardian and/or trustee for the “incapacitated” adult. This application is called a represented adult application because the adult who has lost capacity will need representation in making financial and personal decisions.

A guardian and/or trustee is a fiduciary and must always act in the represented adult’s best interests. Usually, the guardian and/or trustee is a close and trusted family member or friend of the represented adult. An individual can make an application in one of two ways:

• by desktop application, when the application is NOT contested
• by hearing, if someone contests the individual’s application, or if the application is made on an urgent or emergency basis.

Guardianship
A guardian makes medical and personal decisions. Common decisions that a guardian makes include decisions about:

• the adult’s health
• where, with whom, and under what conditions the adult is to live, either permanently or temporarily
• the persons with whom the adult may associate
• the adult’s participation in social activities
• the adult’s participation in any education, vocational, or other training
• the adult’s employment
• the carrying on of any legal proceeding that does not relate primarily to the financial matters of the adult

The individual applying to be a guardian must provide a guardianship plan, which contemplates the major decisions the represented adult faces in the next five or six years.

Trusteeship
A trusteeship order appointments someone to make financial decisions on behalf of a represented person.