Care and prevention

Adults who are no longer able to manage their own affairs adequately due to serious illness or disability can be given legal guardianship. A legal guardian is a representative in legal matters. Their tasks include, for example, organizing necessary assistance and applying for social benefits.

A health care proxy is important for making provisions in the event of illness. The health care proxy takes precedence over legal guardianship. If you are no longer responsive in hospital due to an illness, your loved ones may not receive any information about your health situation. An accident or serious illness can also lead to situations in which young people are no longer able to manage their own legal affairs. A power of attorney is required to ensure that a trusted person supports you in such cases. This can also prevent the need for care in old age

If you are in hospital and are no longer responsive to doctors (e.g. due to a coma), a living will can help to maintain communication between doctor and patient. In a living will, you can state that certain medical measures should be carried out or should be omitted. Advice on living wills can be obtained from the Hospiz Verein Erlangen e.V. or from your family doctor.

A legal guardian is a legal representative who must take into account the subjective wishes and well-being of the person being cared for. The legal guardian represents the person within the defined areas of responsibility and applies for outpatient care services or manages their assets, for example. It is not the task of a caregiver to educate the person being cared for or to visit them on a weekly basis.

As a guardianship authority, we register professional guardians. The guardianship office is involved in all court guardianship proceedings. At the request of the local court, it contacts the person for whom guardianship has been suggested and gets in touch with the potential guardian. We also provide advice on legal guardianship and powers of attorney. We help volunteer relatives with any questions they may have about care or support. The guardianship office certifies powers of attorney for a fee of €10.

A person of legal age who is no longer able to manage their legal affairs due to mental illness or a physical, mental or psychological disability can be granted legal guardianship. As legal guardianship is regarded as a last resort, all other assistance should be exhausted first (e.g. social counseling, care support point, outpatient assisted living).

No guardianship can be set up against the will of a person with legal capacity.

You cannot apply for guardianship with us. To do so, please contact the Erlangen Local Court, Department for Guardianship Matters. The application can be made informally or you can use the form in the local court's form center. Link: justiz.bayern.de/gerichte-und-behoerden/amtsgerichte/erlangen

The guardianship proceedings are paid for by the court. However, if the person being looked after has assets of over €10,000, the costs of the guardian's remuneration must be paid. If the assets exceed €30,000, the court costs will also be charged to the person concerned.

If care is suggested, we will contact the person concerned. If the person to be cared for has an acquaintance or a relative from the family environment whom they trust, this person can be appointed as a volunteer caregiver. The prerequisites for this are personal suitability to act as a guardian, an extract from the debt register and a certificate of good conduct for submission to an authority.

If the person to be cared for wants a professional caregiver or if there are no relatives available, a professional caregiver will be appointed.

There is no training for professional caregivers. They often come from different professional groups (e.g. social workers, lawyers, etc.). The basic requirement is that they have completed relevant professional training and have applied for registration with the competent parent authority. The competent authority is the guardianship authority of the city in which you live or in which you have your registered office.

Would you like to become a professional caregiver or are you already providing care and interested in cases in Erlangen? Then we look forward to receiving your application with the usual application documents.

If you have any questions about the registration process as a newcomer, please contact us on 09131 86 2127. If you are already registered as a professional caregiver and would like to work in the city of Erlangen in the future, please contact us on 09131 86 2137. You can also send us an email to betreuungsstelle@stadt.erlangen.de

Civil servants with a qualification for the third qualification level of the administration and finance career path or people with a degree in social education/social work or a comparable qualification work in the support office. Administrative specialists with vocational training also work in the team. We look forward to receiving your unsolicited application.

If you are interested, please contact us on 09131 86-1935 or send us an e-mail to betreuungsstelle@stadt.erlangen.de