gaurdianship

stranger12

Hi All,

I have been asked by a friend to be guardian of someone who is coming to the uk to study BA.

What are the legal implications of this ?

He is 17 and when he turns 18, does the guardianship become null?

thanks

Savvy_Sue

I think that the answer to this partly depends on what the parents are expecting of the 'guardian'. You wouldn't be able to stop the young man doing pretty much anything he decided to do, even before he was 18. And yes, once he's 18 he is (or could be) on his own - nothing to stop you taking an interest, of course!

True, some things wouldn't be 'easy' for him to do - getting married would require permission, but even if you'd been legally recognised (and I'm not sure what that would look like), if he went to court to request permission it would likely be granted, on the grounds that he's nearly 18 so why stop him? That's just a random example, btw.

Some of my friends did have a young lady staying with them while she did her A levels. What they did was sign any letters from school, go to parents' evenings, generally take an interest. I expect there was some financial arrangement in place too. I don't know if there was anything legal in place, eg if she'd been injured - but again, at 17, no hospital is going to withhold treatment because an adult can't be found to give permission. Either the 17 year old can be consulted, or they'll go ahead anyway.

TBagpuss

I think the first step would be for you to ask your friends what *they* mean by being his guardian.

Legal guardianship would normally involve a court process (or someone dying!) and would be unusual for a 17 year old.

Is it possible that they are asking you to be part of his informal support network, or is it that due to his age he needs someone to be a guarantor for financial purposes, in which case it is a pretty major favour to ask and you would need to do your research so you were 100% clear about the risks to you.