When I first heard of the existence of the office of the Ontario Public Guardian and Trustee I was quite amazed. Here was an institution in Ontario, funded by the government of Ontario, who’s mandate was to protect the well being of incapable adults.
Their job is to protect adults from harm who are incapable of protecting themselves.
For example, if an incapable adult is being abused financially by anybody, including their own family members, then the Public Guardian can investigate and if warranted then apply to the Court to be appointed the abused person’s guardian to the exclusion of others.
I suspect that in the next ten to twenty years that this will occur more frequently. Our population is aging and it seems that the occurrence of elder abuse is on the rise. Apparently there are now a few lawyers in Toronto who are specialized in the law of elder abuse. This is a fairly recent development and most likely it will grow.
Sometimes it’s not even a question of abuse. If an adult person becomes mentally incapable and nobody in the family is willing or able to become that person’s guardian then the Public guardian will step in to protect that incapable person.
If a person passes away without a Will and no known family the Public Guardian will step in to administer the Estate. Or perhaps the incapable person is the beneficiary under a Will – if family cannot or will not act as Guardian the inheritance then goes to the Public Guardian to administer.
Our legal office most often deals with the Public Guardian when an incapable person has a claim for damages but there is no willing family member to make decisions on behalf of the incapable person in the law suit. In this case we call in the Public Guardian to assist.