guardian
noun · Betreuer
Betreuer for the adult, Vormund for the minor, and the line is thirty years old, adult guardianship died in 1992, die Betreuung replaced it, since 2023 in §§ 1814 ff. BGB. Der Vormund der Mutter files the grandmother as a child, and the lasting power of attorney is die Vorsorgevollmacht, § 1820 BGB, built precisely to keep the Betreuer away.
Which translation, when
Why
German split the offices a generation ago and renumbered them recently. Adult guardianship and the old Entmündigung were abolished in 1992, replaced by die rechtliche Betreuung, court-appointed, tied to defined Aufgabenbereiche rather than granted as a general status, and, since the 2023 reform, housed in §§ 1814 ff. BGB. The system is subsidiary by design, § 1814 Abs. 3 BGB, no Betreuung where a Vorsorgevollmacht already covers the ground, which makes § 1820 BGB the functional twin of the English lasting power of attorney, a private instrument built to keep the court out, and dauerhafte Vollmacht a residue that hides its whole point. Der Vormund survives only in the minors’ chapter, §§ 1773 ff. BGB, where parental care fails, the custody world’s neighbour. The guardian ad litem has its own procedural office, der Verfahrensbeistand, § 158 FamFG, the child’s voice in family proceedings. One counter-current deserves a flag, everyday German uses Betreuer for carers and childminders too, so the legal office and the care work share a word in the other direction, context carries it, and in the legal register die Betreuung is the court-ordered office, not the childcare.
Typical mistakes
- Vormund für einen Erwachsenen ist seit 1992 tot, the adult’s office is der Betreuer, die rechtliche Betreuung, §§ 1814 ff. BGB, and the residue misdates the file by a generation.
- Lasting power of attorney is die Vorsorgevollmacht, § 1820 BGB, and it outranks the court, § 1814 Abs. 3 BGB makes the Betreuung subsidiary, so dauerhafte Vollmacht hides the instrument’s whole point.
- Guardian ad litem is der Verfahrensbeistand, § 158 FamFG, a procedural office for the child, and Vormund ad litem stitches two systems into one nonsense.
What matters
Incapacity planning letters translate by decade: the guardian for the ageing parent is der Betreuer, §§ 1814 ff. BGB, appointed only where no Vorsorgevollmacht, § 1820 BGB, already covers the ground, § 1814 Abs. 3 BGB, while der Vormund waits in the minors’ chapter, §§ 1773 ff. BGB. The letter appointing einen Vormund für die Mutter has filed her as a child under law that left in 1992.
What the machine misses
Guardian lands as Vormund in machine output for adults and children alike, and German split the offices a generation ago, the adult’s guardian is der Betreuer, scope-limited and subsidiary to the Vorsorgevollmacht the English text calls a lasting power. The residue misdates every incapacity file it touches, and the planning instrument built to avoid court arrives translated as an ordinary permanent proxy.
Examples
| legal guardian of an adult | der Betreuer |
| guardian of a minor | der Vormund |
| lasting power of attorney | die Vorsorgevollmacht |
| guardian ad litem | der Verfahrensbeistand |