When a family court hears a case on starting or ending adult, limited or special guardianship, whose statement must be examined, and when may the court proceed without examining that person?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file, we read the application stating which kind of guardianship ruling is sought, the hearing record showing whether the ward or the person about to become ward was examined, and any medical certificate or proof of refusal to attend offered to explain why examination did not happen.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading treats the examination as the court's duty wherever the ruling concerns the starting or ending of adult, limited or special guardianship: the court must examine the ward, or the person about to become ward, including where the ward is a person about to become a limited or special ward.
Another reading marks the exception and the further step: examination is dispensed with only where the person cannot state their intention, or special circumstances such as refusal to attend make examination impossible; and where verification is needed for that examination, the Civil Procedure Act provisions applied mutatis mutandis govern, leaving open what counts as verification being needed.
Your judgment
If a medical certificate is offered instead of examining the person, how could the file show whether special circumstances made examination impossible and whether verification was needed for the examination?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change the grounds for dispensing with examination or the verification rules applied by reference, or if a court decision clarifies what counts as special circumstances or as verification needed for the examination.