Apply for guardianship
What is guardianship?
When you apply for guardianship, you are asking that someone becomes a guardian for another person.
A guardian has the authority to make lifestyle or personal decisions for someone who is incapable of making these decisions for themselves. Lifestyle or personal decisions refer to things such as where someone lives, what medical treatment they receive, and what services they need.
The Tribunal can only consider guardianship applications about people who live in New South Wales and who are over the age of 16.
What are the criteria for making a guardianship order?
The Guardianship Tribunal will not make a guardianship order:
- unless it is satisfied by the evidence before it that the person the application is about has a decision-making disability
- if the person already has informal arrangements in place that are working in the best interests of the person.
What you must consider before making an application
- Does the person the application is about have a disability?
- Does the disability affect the person's functional capacity and result in them being either totally or partially incapable of managing their person?
- Are there any decisions that need to be made now that cannot be made by someone informally?
Making the application
You can either make an application by:
- applying online using the online application form or
- printing out the Application for Appointment of a Financial Manager and/or Appointment of a Guardian form from the publications section of this website, or
- speaking to the Tribunal's enquiry service who will explain how to make an application and send you a form.