Guardianship lawyers in Medellín

What is a guardianship?

The 1991 constitution was a step towards equal rights for the Colombian people. Although, many times our fundamental rights are or are threatened to be violated, the same constitution provides us with defense mechanisms to enforce our rights, and one that brought with the constitution of 1991 was the tutela action.

Stipulated in Article 86 of the Political Constitution of Colombia, the tutela action is a mechanism by which a citizen may request before a judge the protection of fundamental rights that are or may be violated through the action or omission exercised by a public entity.

This defense mechanism is one of the most valued in Colombia, since its implementation to date, more than seven million petitions have been confirmed, and thanks to its immediacy and quick response, it is one of the most effective mechanisms provided by the Political Constitution of 1991.

The tutela action may be brought by a person who believes that his or her rights are being violated, and may also be brought by a friend or relative of the affected person, when he or she is unable to do so on his or her own. Also, a lawyer specialized in tutelas can advise you in the drafting of a tutela action, in this way you will have a better chance of obtaining a positive result to your petition.

How is a guardianship drafted?

In general, a tutela action must be made in writing, as long as the person is literate and his life is not in imminent danger, if he does not meet any of these requirements or if he is also a minor, the tutela action may be made verbally.

In principle, the tutela action is directed against public entities that may jeopardize fundamental rights, but it may also be brought against private parties that provide public services.

All judges and courts in Colombia are trained to receive a tutela petition, they will review the case and rule on its viability, the whole process from the delivery to the pronouncement of the ruling cannot take more than 10 days. If the judgment issued by the judge is not complied with or is ignored, this will result in non-compliance with the law and the respective sanctions will be applied against the entity.

The tutela action is one of the most important defense mechanisms for the Colombian people, thanks to it many legal loopholes in the constitution have been corrected, improving the quality of our quality of life, among some of the most important rulings are highlighted:

1. Request for euthanasia; in this case it is understood that the spectrum of living with dignity also includes the fact of dying with dignity, this was implemented in sentence T-970 of 2014, when a patient was denied his request, in a conscious manner, about applying euthanasia.
2. The LGBTI communityAlthough before the law we are equal, there were many gaps when it came to people belonging to this community, thanks to the struggle for their rights, also thanks to this defense mechanism, rights have been recognized to this community that they did not have before, such as equal marriage, adoption of same-sex couples and registration of biological children of diverse families.
3. Freedom of expression; although Article 20 enshrines the right to freedom of expression, Ruling T-391 of 2007 specified the limits of this right.
4. The Colpensiones case; the transition from the Social Security Institute to the Colombian Pension Administration, presented several violations to the rights of its users, with the tutela, Colpensiones was able to implement measures to reduce the violations.
5. Right to health; The Constitution established health as a service, but it could be demanded through a tutela action if it was connected to the right to life, but thanks to the T-06 ruling of 2007, a process began to establish it as a fundamental right.