Legislation related to the OPGT

Overview

An act is a law passed by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

A regulation is:

a form of a law approved by the minister
about the details and applications of the legislation, such as
- forms
- processes

Updates to the Adult Guardianship and Trusteeship Act and Regulations took effect on April 1, 2026.

Key changes include:

The definition of a residential facility has been updated to remove a minimum of 4 residents and include facility accreditation. This provides more placement options for specific decision-making.
The Public Trustee can now make specific financial decisions for an adult who has lost capacity, only when those financial decisions are necessary to support a decision where the adult will live, and no other decision-maker is in place. Related forms and processes have been updated to reflect this change.
The Public Guardian may be selected to make a specific decision if an agent named in an enacted personal directive is unable or unwilling to act, provided certain conditions are met.
An interested person may start an application for review of a co-decision-making, guardianship, trusteeship order using a desk application instead of being required to start the hearing process.

Updates to the Public Trustee Act and Regulations took effect on April 1, 2026.

Key changes include:

The court may appoint the Public Trustee to act only if the Public Trustee has been given 15 days’ notice of any court application.
The Public Trustee may act with respect to the burial of an unclaimed deceased person. This includes searching for a deceased person’s family, collecting financial information related to the estate and providing burial and payment instructions.
The time requirement for the Public Trustee to hold unclaimed funds before transferring those funds to the General Revenue Fund has been reduced. Individuals can still claim those funds even after they have been transferred.