FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Part III - Hearing Process and Order

Is it the same as a court?
Hearings are conducted with less formality and legal technicality than a court. There is a minimum of three Board members, one from each panel, hearing the case. The hearing is usually conducted in the hearing room of the Board where all the parties and the Board members sit around a table. The hearing can be held in hospital or hostel, which depends on the health conditions of the mentally incapacitated adult.

What is the length of the guardianship order?
The initial order is for a period up to one year. Then the order is reviewed and an order can be made for up to three years. An emergency order can be made for up to three months.

Can a party appeal the making of the guardianship order?right over their adult mentally incapacitated children?
Yes. An appeal to the Court of First Instance can be made to challenge the decision.

If the Guardianship Board makes a Guardianship Order will there be any impact on the person concerned? For example, will he be forbidden to get married?
Guardianship is limited to the powers under Part IVB of the ordinance. A guardian has no authority to prevent the person concerned contracting a marriage. The issue of whether the person concerned has the capacity to get married or not, is a matter for the Registrar of Marriages to determine, and not the Guardianship Board.
Will a person concerned under guardianship lose all of his legal rights and responsibilities, e.g. to apply for a credit card, or to sign legal papers such as a contract?
A Guardianship Order is limited to the powers under Part IVB of the ordinance. It does not generally take away all of the rights or responsibilities of the person concerned, nor does it give them to the guardian. The capacity of the person concerned to enter contracts may fluctuate, depending on the disability.