I would like to know exactly about adult wards.

The systems of adult ward and limited ward are systems you must accurately understand to protect the property and life of family members whose judgment ability has declined due to dementia, etc.

Our Civil Act provides different guardianship systems depending on the degree of mental constraint due to disease, disability, or old age. The key is the level of the person's ability to handle affairs.

Article 9 of the Civil Act stipulates the trial of commencement of adult guardianship.

The Family Court conducts a trial of commencement of adult guardianship for persons who continuously lack the ability to handle affairs due to disease, disability, old age, or other reasons, that is, persons with little or no judgment ability, upon request from the person, spouse, relatives within the 4th degree, prosecutors, heads of local governments, etc.

When such a trial is rendered, the subject is called an adult ward, and an adult ward is a person who is legally in a state where the ability to handle affairs is comprehensively lacking, with severe dementia patients being a representative example.

Once a person becomes an adult ward, they cannot in principle perform valid legal acts independently, and important decisions such as property management can only be made through the adult guardian appointed by the court.

On the other hand, Article 12 of the Civil Act stipulates the trial of commencement of limited guardianship, which targets persons who lack the ability to handle affairs due to disease, disability, or old age, that is, persons whose judgment ability has not been completely lost but who have difficulty with important property acts or legal acts.

In this case, the Family Court appoints a guardian through the trial of commencement of limited guardianship, and the subject is called a limited ward.

A limited ward is a person with mild dementia or cognitive decline who can relatively handle daily life but is at risk of misjudgment in matters such as real estate disposal, financial contract conclusion, and complex document preparation.

In this case, not all acts are restricted, but the consent of the guardian is required only for specific scope of acts set by the court.

Guardianship applications are in principle made by the person, spouse, relatives within the 4th degree, prosecutors, heads of local governments, etc.

Since the guardianship system, once commenced, is directly connected to property disposal, financial transactions, and inheritance issues, it is very important to receive help from a family law specialist attorney from the early stages of becoming an adult ward to carefully select the type of guardianship and proceed with the procedure.