{"id":2865,"date":"2026-05-29T03:09:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T00:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svaroglaw.com\/simejne-pravo\/vstanovlennya-opiky-dytyny\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T14:17:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T11:17:18","slug":"vstanovlennya-opiky-dytyny","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/svaroglaw.com\/en\/simejne-pravo\/vstanovlennya-opiky-dytyny\/","title":{"rendered":"Establishing guardianship and care for a child"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guardianship and custody are not the same thing, and confusing them costs months. Guardianship is established over a child under 14, custody over a child aged 14 to 18 Art. 243 FC<\/span>. The powers differ: a guardian acts on the child\u2019s behalf, while a custodian consents to the child\u2019s own actions.<\/p>\n

Guardianship is needed where the parents have died, are unknown, have been declared missing or legally incapable, have lost their parental rights, are serving a sentence, or cannot raise the child for other reasons. Most often the guardians are grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, or adult brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n

The procedure is administrative, but it stalls regularly: because the guardianship authority refuses, because relatives disagree, because the parents\u2019 status has to be settled first, or because the documents are in occupied territory.<\/p>\n

<\/svg>+38 095 554-54-24<\/span><\/a>legal consultation<\/span><\/div>\n

Who can become a guardian<\/h2>\n

A guardian can be any adult with legal capacity who applies in writing. Preference goes to the child\u2019s relatives and to people in whose family the child has lived Art. 244 FC<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Guardianship will not be granted to anyone deprived of parental rights, declared legally incapable or of limited capacity, or whose interests conflict with the child\u2019s Art. 244(3) FC<\/span>. A wider list of restrictions is set out in the Procedure for the activities of guardianship authorities relating to the protection of children\u2019s rights, approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 866 of 24 September 2008, and in Art. 212 of the Family Code:<\/p>\n