Guardianship in Norway is help to manage your finances and other matters when you cannot do it yourself – for example due to illness, dementia, or disability. Regular guardianship is voluntary, you keep your rights, and the County Governor appoints a guardian. It is free to apply.
What is guardianship in Norway?
Guardianship in Norway is a support system where one person (a guardian) helps you take care of your interests when you cannot do it yourself. It applies to adults who cannot manage their finances or other important matters because of illness, dementia, intellectual disability, or injury. Guardianship also applies to minors – children under 18 years old.
The rules are in the Guardianship Act (Act of 26 March 2010), which came into force on 1 July 2013. The purpose is to give help – not to take away your right to decide for yourself. A guardian is the person who acts on your behalf, for example paying bills or applying for benefits. The guardian must always make decisions together with you as much as possible.
Voluntary guardianship: you keep your legal capacity
Regular guardianship is voluntary, and you keep your full legal capacity. Legal capacity means the right to decide for yourself – for example to make agreements, manage your money, and decide over your own life. With voluntary guardianship you lose no rights: you can still act for yourself, and the guardian is a tool to help you, not a boss.
The law is based on a principle of the least possible intervention. Guardianship shall not be made more extensive than necessary (Guardianship Act § 21). This means the help is tailored exactly to what you need, no more.
Guardianship is based on consent. If you cannot give consent because of your condition, guardianship can still be set up – but never against your will if you are able to say no clearly.
In rare cases, the court can decide to remove your legal capacity. Then you have less right to decide for yourself, for example over your finances. This is a serious step, and only the district court can decide it – never the County Governor alone. It happens only when necessary to prevent you from being exploited or losing large sums of money.
| Regular (voluntary) guardianship | Removal of legal capacity | |
|---|---|---|
| Do you keep the right to decide? | Yes, fully | No, partly limited |
| Who decides? | The County Governor | The district court |
| How common is it? | Most common | Rare |
What does a guardian do?
A guardian helps you with finances, personal matters, or both – exactly what you need help with. The guardianship is tailored to each person. Typical tasks are:
- Finances: pay bills, manage your bank account, and apply for benefits or support.
- Personal matters: help you with the public sector, such as health services or NAV (the Labour and Welfare Administration).
Some things a guardian can never do for you. You always decide for yourself about, for example, voting rights, marriage, and your will. A guardian can be someone you care about, such as a family member or another close person. If you have no one in the family who can or will, the County Governor appoints a professional guardian – a person who has guardianship tasks as a job.
The guardian cannot use your money as their own. The money must be kept separate, and the guardian keeps accounts. The County Governor supervises and can step in if something is wrong. That way you are protected against abuse.
Guardianship for children and adults
Guardianship applies to both adults and minors, but in different ways. For children under 18, it is usually the parents with parental responsibility who are guardians. If the parents cannot do the job, the County Governor appoints a guardian. Children must be heard in matters that concern them, and their right to decide grows with age. For example, a young person aged 15 or older can make an ordinary work agreement themselves. If you want to read more, we have a separate article about children's rights and the right to decide in Norway.
For adults, guardianship is about help with, for example, dementia, serious illness, or disability. The goal is always the same: that you should be able to run your life as much as possible, with support where you need it.
How do you apply for guardianship from the County Governor?
You apply for guardianship by sending an application to the County Governor, and it is free. The County Governor is the state's representative in the county and both appoints and follows up with guardians. Here is how you do it:
- Fill out an application for guardianship. You can find the form on vergemal.no.
- Attach a doctor's certificate from your GP or treating doctor that describes why the person cannot take care of their interests.
- Send everything to the County Governor in the county where the person lives.
Both the person concerned, close family members, and the doctor can request guardianship. It costs nothing to set up regular guardianship with the County Governor. The Civil Administration is the central guardianship authority responsible for the whole country.
Rules about rights and welfare like these are also part of the exam for the Citizenship Test. On SamfunnPrep you can find practice questions about exactly this. If you need information about financial benefits, you can read about disability pension in 2026 and about NAV for immigrants.
Guardianship or power of attorney for the future?
A power of attorney for the future is a private alternative to guardianship that you set up while you are still well. In a power of attorney for the future you decide for yourself who should manage your finances and other matters for you if you one day cannot – for example due to dementia. Then you often avoid public guardianship and keep more right to decide for yourself. Guardianship, on the other hand, is only set up when the need has already arisen. The two systems are closely connected, but are not the same.
The right to decide over your own life is a basic human right. Read more about human rights in Norway and how they protect the individual. On SamfunnPrep we have several guides about rights and welfare in Norway.
Do you want to understand rights and welfare in Norwegian society better? Many of these rules are part of the exam for the Citizenship Test. Try SamfunnPrep free and practice real exam questions.
