Dismissal of a god man not doing their job properly
My girlfriend will be 18 in 1 month,
She was assigned a Godman when she came to Sweden because her family aren't in Sweden.
Her Godman always delays with issuing ID card or opening a bank account for weeks,
She delayed sending important documents to CSN for 6 months while my girlfriend used to attend the school.
Eventually when CSN paid for the 6 months, she refused to give them to my girlfriend and she was extremely hateful to me and really bad treating my girlfriend.
My girlfriend tried to complaint to Socialstyrelsen against the Godman but they said they can't do anything about it.
What should we do in this situation?
Ps: My girlfriend is pregnant 5 months now and want to buy things for herself, but the Godman is refusing that.
Lawline svarar
Hello!
Thank you for coming to Lawline with your question. Since your write that your girlfriend has a god man because of her family not being in the country, I'm assuming that she has no need for a god man apart from the fact that she is underage, like she would if she perhaps had a mental illness for example.
How can a god man be dismissed?
Your situation is regulated by lag (2005:429) om god man för ensamkommande barn (translates roughly to law regarding god man for unaccompanied children arriving in Sweden).
It does sound like her god man is mishandling the situation. The authorities responsible for dismissing an unfit god man are called överförmyndare, and which one is responsible in your particular case depends on what kommun your girlfriend lives in. You should be able to find their website by searching for 'överförmyndare' along with the name of the kommun. Your girlfriend can not by herself apply for dismissal of the god man. Her parents, however, can file a complaint. If you are above 18 there is a chance that you can be considered responsible for your girlfriend as well if you would like to, and could therefore also be able to apply for dismissal (6-7 §§ lag 2005:429). In any case, överförmyndaren can always choose to take on a case by themselves, so you could try contacting them and telling them about the situation. Hopefully they would see the issues and dismiss the god man for your girlfriend.
However, once someone turns 18 the god man-situation expires on its own, and she will gain full control over herself and her economy (5 § lag 2005:429).
What should you do?
In your situation, I would advise you to wait for her 18th birthday and the god man to expire by itself. Contacting the överförmyndare and going through that process will most likely take longer than a month anyway. They may also not be willing to help, since they would then need to assign her a new god man just for a months time. I understand that this may not be ideal for you, but I believe it will be the easiest and most efficient.
I wish you luck and I hope this answered your question. If you have any further questions feel free to contact us again!
Kindly,
