On March 31^st, 2021, MHLW announced its summary of working-level consultations on the petitions for adult guardianship made by the heads of local governments. The consultations have taken place four times since October 2020, and the results of the discussion were summarized in this document. The adult guardianship system was institutionalized, replacing the traditional interdiction of management of property, when the Civil Code was amended in 1999. At the same time, the right to file a petition for legal guardianship was given to the heads of local governments in addition to the relatives of the person concerned. It has been approximately 20 years since the revised law came into effect, and the number of petitions for guardianship made by the heads of local governments reached 7,837 cases in 2019, accounting for about 22.0% of the total number of petitions. In response to the growing number of cases and the subsequent increase in public attention, MHLW decided to organize the above-mentioned working level consultations and investigate the current situation of the system in order to consider measures to facilitate its smooth implementation. The table of contents of the summary is as follows.

The Subcommittee also considered the issue of confusion caused by a disparity in the support services provided to users of the adult guardianship system by different local governments, particularly in cases involving multiple municipalities. It was proposed that the national government should set out its policy on the provision of such services in order to resolve this. For more information, please visit the following link (Japanese only). https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_13833.html