Determining security

Regardless of the type of security, it generally has to be maintained until the end of the tutor's administration, unless you, the tutorship council, decide otherwise.

To fufil their obligations, the tutor has to provide security when the property they are administering is valued at over $25,000. The security is a guarantee to protect the minor's patrimony.

As tutorship council, you have to:

determine the type of security and the amount of the guarantee;
set the deadline by which the tutor must provide this security;
verify annually that it is still valid or accept another security of sufficient value.

Important: The hold funds does not constitute a freeze on investments. The tutor may still take the initiative to diversify or modify the minor's portfolio at their discretion, provided they make presumed sound investments (e.g. converting a savings certificate into bonds), at the financial institution where the funds are deposited.

Types of securities

Three types of security are usually possible:

Hold funds: this is actually an undertaking by the financial institution holding funds to retain the amount you determine. The hold may apply to all or part of the capital. You may include or exclude the interest.

The tutor must have a copy of your decision before proceeding with any formalities with the financial institution.

Suretyship or other type of insurance:a recognized financial institution (bank, insurance company, caisse populaire, etc.) undertakes to pay the child damages up to a certain amount if the tutor fails to fulfil their obligations. The premium is payable from the child's patrimony.

Unlike other types of securities, a mortgage does not have to be confirmed annually by the tutor.

Mortgage: the tutor gives a piece of real estate owned by them in guarantee, up to an amount that you determine. The guarantee agreement must be notarized and published by a land registry office.

How do you set the amount guaranteed by the security?

If the parents, as legal tutors, are administering the child's property, you should take into account factors such as their obligation of support, their financial capacity, the child's situation and needs (the child's interests, the nature of the child's property, the costs of conserving it, etc.). As a rule, the more limited these needs are, the higher the amount guaranteed by the security.
Is a dative tutor administering the property and are the child's parents no longer alive? In addition to the above factors, you need to remember that the tutor will have to use part of the child's patrimony for their upbringing; unlike the parents, the tutor has no obligation of support to the child.

Exemption and real estate

You may exempt real estate from the security (house, land, cottage, etc.), whatever its value, and also exempt certain other material property (vehicle, valuable furniture, boat, etc.). If you are in any doubt, contact the Curateur public.

Example

Robert Smith died and his son Alex, a minor aged 15, inherited his house, valued at $200,000; as beneficiary of his father's life insurance, he received $50,000. This amount earns $2,000 in annual interest.

Alex's mother, Mary Smith, is administering her son's property as legal tutor.
She is bringing up the child with her own income, so is now fulfilling the parental obligation of support on her own.
She pays Alex monthly rent of $600 because she is continuing to live in the family home (she has agreed on this amount with the recently constituted tutorship council; it is based on the municipal evaluation of the house; heating and electricity costs are included).

To determine the security, the tutorship council analyzed the situation with Mrs. Smith, taking into account:

her obligation of support and her financial capacity;
Alex's annual income, evaluated at $9,200 (rent + interest);
tutorship expenses evaluated at $8,000 for the first year ($2,000 for setting up the tutorship council + $6,000 in fixed costs comprising property tax, heating, electricity, etc.).

After deciding to exempt the house from the security, the council opted for a hold funds on 100% of the funds, excluding interest. The interest will help to pay the tutorship costs.

Next year, it will have to revise the amount because the tutorship costs will be lower; the tutor has to notify the Curateur public accordingly.

If the value of the property falls below $25,000

You may relieve the tutor of the obligation of maintaining security and inform the Curateur public of your decision. What happens then?
In the case of a dative tutorship, you continue to supervise the administration of property.
In the case of a legal tutorship (exercised by the parents), your supervisory role ends. However, the tutorship council continues to exist, because you may still have a role to play (the court may ask for your opinion, the child's patrimony may increase in value again, etc.).