Under constant shelling. A daughter was able to become her mother’s legal guardian

Publication date: January 30, 2024

Lawyers of the North Human Rights Group helped a resident of the border community of Sumy oblast obtain guardianship over her mother. To do so, the woman had to renew the deadline for filing a petition with the court and request an extension of the decision recognizing the person as incapacitated.

Svitlana*, a resident of a border community in Sumy oblast, approached the North Human Rights Group requesting assistance in obtaining guardianship over her mother. For objective reasons, she missed the deadline for submitting an appeal to the court to have her mother recognized as a disabled person and appointed a guardian.

– It was challenging to apply for my mother’s guardianship in time under the conditions of constant shelling of our village because I did not understand how the courts work in such situations. She was recognized as disabled for two years, and this period expired during the active hostilities in our region, the woman explained.

Liudmyla Rudenko, a lawyer with the organization, took on the task of helping Svitlana. She explained that according to Part 6 of Article 300 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, the term of validity of a decision recognizing a person as incapacitated is determined by the court but may not exceed two years. Under martial law, this period was not revised, i.e. Article 300 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine is valid in this wording.

– Our analysis of court practice has revealed an ambiguous position of the courts on the possibility of extending the deadline for applying to the court for an extension of the decision recognizing a person as incapacitated. One of the compelling arguments can be that such persons have been under occupation for a certain period and, therefore, have no access to the courts, comments Liudmyla Rudenko.

The lawyer presented the argument above in the appeal to the court. The document contained a request to extend the validity of the court’s decision to recognize the person as incapacitated and to recognize the valid reasons why the daughter missed the deadline for applying to the court.

As a result, the court made a favourable decision in the case, and Svitlana is now her mother’s legal guardian.

*Name has been changed for ethical reasons.

The material was created with the support of the international charity platform GlobalGiving and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The publication’s content is solely the responsibility of the Legal Development Network.

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