When and how do I apply for Dutch curatorship?
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Detailed explanation, checklist and sources
Curatele protects an adult's finances and personal care when financial administration, mentorship or their combination is insufficient. It is a restrictive court measure, not an ordinary power of attorney.
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1. Assess need and effects
Explain why less restrictive support is inadequate. Physical or mental conditions or addiction may justify temporary or continuing curatorship. The person loses capacity for independent legal acts, including ordinary contracting and parental authority. Specific acts may require written permission. A curator cannot make donor registrations or euthanasia declarations for them; marriage and wills have separate statutory conditions. For urgency ask about a provisional administrator: that temporary measure leaves legal capacity intact.
2. Choose applicant and curator
Applicants include the adult, partner, blood relatives through the fourth degree, a person with parental authority before eighteen, existing financial administrator or mentor, care institution or public prosecutor. Propose one or two suitable curators. Candidates cannot themselves be under curatorship/mentorship, bankrupt, in Wsnp, the person's Wsnp administrator, directly involved professional care provider, or staff/management of their care organisation. Own financial administration has a limited exception: the candidate must belong to the applicant circle and act with a second curator who alone handles finances. Professionals face extra quality standards.
3. Collect documents
Each candidate signs a willingness declaration. Gather partner agreement and views of adult children, otherwise parents/adult siblings, and any existing administrator or mentor. Disagreement does not bar filing; explain why. Include any living will, signed condition/addiction evidence and, where relevant, debts and income. Institutions provide company-register details and any representative authority; professional curators a plan. Explain the person's wishes and why your proposal fits.
4. File and budget
Use Mijn CBM with your own DigiD or the signed official curatorship petition and annexes, by post or counter at the person's residence court. Follow local instructions. No lawyer is compulsory initially. Court fees are normally due within four weeks of filing; follow the invoice, since late payment can prevent consideration without cancelling the debt. Provisional protection, termination or conversion can also attract fees; replacing/adding a curator or extending the measure does not. The person pays any annual remuneration; exceeding the maximum needs court approval. Check current private/professional rates and municipal special assistance if needed.
5. Attend and preserve appeal
The closed hearing is usually within two months, without guarantee. Notify attendance problems beforehand; unexplained absence by applicant or subject can lead to refusal. Interested parties may send signed objections with case number, details, reasons and evidence. Extra attendees need permission. The judge may grant, refuse, impose temporary protection or choose a lighter measure, usually respecting curator preference. Curatorship starts on the decision date; the curator's duties start the day after dispatch. A provisional appointment ends when the decision is made. Appeal must be brought through a lawyer within three months of the decision.
6. Start management and reporting
File an asset inventory within four months of commencement; a successor curator must also inventory. The registry handles CCBR and Staatscourant; the curator handles relevant land/business registration. Manage payments, records, tax and care with personal contact and involvement. Seek prior judicial permission for, among other things, expected spending over €2,000, property sale, residential renting/letting, borrowing/lending, gifts, investments, estate decisions, litigation or surrendering insurance. Keep receipts. Submit annual accounts, normally five-year evaluations and final accounts on ending, replacement or death. Report moves, inheritance, death, prolonged inability to act or requested changes/termination. Raise complaints with the curator first, then the supervising judge if unresolved.
Is curatorship the same as financial administration plus mentorship?
No. Curatorship removes capacity for independent legal acts, affecting contracts and parental authority. Administration and mentorship are less restrictive. The judge may impose curatorship only when those measures are insufficient.
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Rechtspraak · Curatele ↗Rechtspraak · Aanvragen ↗Rechtspraak · Kosten ↗Rechtspraak · Betrokkene ↗Rechtspraak · Taken curator ↗Sources may be in Dutch. General information about Dutch law, not individual legal advice.