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Section 28: Nearest relative of minor under guardianship, etc.

Mental Health Act 1983 · 1983 c. 20View on legislation.gov.uk

Part II: Compulsory Admission to Hospital and Guardianship

Where—

a guardian has been appointed for a person who has not attained the age of eighteen years; or
a person is named in a child arrangements order (as defined by section 8 of the Children Act 1989) as a person with whom a person who has not attained the age of eighteen years is to live,

the guardian (or guardians, where there is more than one) or the person so named (or the persons so named, where there is more than one) shall, to the exclusion of any other person, be deemed to be his nearest relative.

Subsection (5) of section 26 above shall apply in relation to a person who is, or who is one of the persons, deemed to be the nearest relative of a patient by virtue of this section as it applies in relation to a person who would be the nearest relative under subsection (3) of that section.

In this section " guardian " includes a special guardian (within the meaning of the Children Act 1989), but does not include a guardian under this Part of this Act.

In this section "court" includes a court in Scotland or Northern Ireland, and "enactment" includes an enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, a Measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly and an Order in Council under Schedule 1 of the Northern Ireland Act 1974.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.