Also known as: tutelae · tutelage · tutelages · tutelar · tutelary · guardianship · tutorship
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A legal relationship in which a court appoints a guardian to manage the person or property of an individual who lacks capacity due to minority, mental illness, or other impairment. The guardian acts under court supervision to protect the ward's interests and may exercise powers only to the extent authorized by the appointing order.
Tabitha Taylor's property was placed under guardianship after a court found her mentally incapacitated. She later signed a contract to sell land without the guardian's involvement. The buyer later sought enforcement, but the agreement was held voidable because the guardianship deprived Tabitha of capacity to incur contractual duties.
Tonya Takahashi and her former partner submitted all disputes, including child custody matters, to arbitration. The arbitrator awarded sole guardianship of their child to one parent. A court later vacated that portion of the award because an arbitrator lacks authority to grant guardianship of a child.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Theo Thomas was under a court-appointed guardianship for financial affairs. He attempted to enter a large investment contract on his own. The other party could not enforce the agreement against him because the guardianship status removed his capacity to bind himself contractually.
Theresa Tucker, a member of a federally recognized tribe, challenged a federal regulation that treated the tribe as subject to congressional oversight similar to a ward under guardianship. The court upheld the regulation, noting that the tribe's status as a domestic dependent nation placed it in a relationship of tutelage to the United States.
Tamara Tan, a high school athlete, objected to a random drug test required by school policy. School officials defended the search by pointing to their custodial and tutelary responsibility for students. The court upheld the testing because the school's protective role over minors justified the intrusion.
Thaddeus Tran sought to register a trademark containing a vulgar term. The PTO refused registration on morality grounds. Tran argued the refusal violated free speech protections. The court analyzed whether the government's role in trademark registration carried any tutelary function that might support content-based restrictions.
No. A person under guardianship for property management lacks capacity only to the extent the guardianship order removes authority to incur contractual duties. Limited guardianships may leave capacity intact for other transactions.
Supporting sources
No. Statutes expressly prohibit arbitrators from granting guardianship of a child or incapacitated person even when the parties submit all disputes to arbitration.
Supporting sources
Schools may conduct searches that are justified at inception and reasonably related in scope to the circumstances, because their custodial and tutelary responsibility for students permits greater latitude than ordinary Fourth Amendment analysis.
Supporting sources
Yes. A court may impose a limited guardianship for financial management while expressly finding the ward retains capacity to decide property dispositions at death, and that finding controls the validity of a later deed or will substitute.
Supporting sources
…. . . , and not for the courts, to determine when the true interests of the Indian require his release from [the] condition of tutelage' . . . , it is not meant by this that Congress may bring a community or body of people within the range of this power by arbitrarily calling them an Indian tribe . . . ." United States v.…