Guardianship in BC: Committeeship (15:VII)

In BC, adult guardianship (called Committeeship) is currently governed by two acts: the Patient’s Property Act, RSBC 1996 c 349 [PPA] and the Adult Guardianship Act, RSBC 1996 c 6 [AGA]. The PPA allows a judge to declare a person incapable of managing themselves or their affairs and appointing a Committee (pronounced caw-mi-TAY, with emphasis on the end of the word). Section 2.1 of the AGA contains a statutory process by which a person can be declared incapable of managing their financial affairs and the Public Guardian and Trustee becomes their Statutory Property Guardian. All Committees, whether an individual or the Public Guardian and Trustee, are legally authorized to make decisions for the patient, who is incapable of making their decisions for him or herself. A person may be incapable from birth, or may become incapable at some point later in life. An individual may be rendered incapable due to an accident, illness, or a disability. Being a Committee is the highest form of fiduciary obligation that one person can hold to another.It is important to keep in mind that the two different processes for creating a Committeeship are quite different from each other and are governed by different pieces of legislation. Students should identify which type of Committeeship is present or being sought. In the rest of this section a Committeeship created under the PPA is referred to as a court order Committeeship while one created under the AGA is referred to as a statutory process Committeeship. These are not technical or legal phrases but used solely for clarity. Details for the two types are produced below. IMPORTANT TIP FOR STUDENTS: A client seeking advice or legal information on Commiteeships may be a concerned family member or friend wanting information about the process from the standpoint of acting as Committee to a loved one who has lost capacity. Alternatively, the client may be the individual adult for whom a Committee has been appointed. In either instance, the guardianship process can be emotional, and is often connected to complex family dynamics and longstanding conflicts. An individual subject to Committeeship, or the threat of Committeeship, may present as extremely upset, angry or confused, especially if there were no court proceedings in which they were involved. In order to assist this client in the best possible way, it is important that the student is aware of the gravity of the situation for the client, and that the student appreciates why the client may be feeling this way. Factors to keep in mind include: The effect of a Committeeship is that the adult loses his or her decision-making rights and is considered a non-person under the law;The adult will likely have a Committee for the rest of his or her life; Committeeship is difficult and costly to reverse; The Committee, subject to some limitations, has the power to do almost anything the adult could do for themselves, if he or she were mentally capable. This authority is wide ranging and may include consenting to healthcare, determining where the adult will live, what the adult can

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