Art. 4069.Separate Tutor of Property

Tutorship ordinarily combines care of the minor's person with management of the minor's property in the same tutor. Article 4069 recognizes that combination will not always serve the minor well — a family member well suited to raising the child may not be equipped to manage complex assets, for instance — and allows the two roles to be split.

That split is not routine. The court needs exceptional circumstances and good cause before appointing a bank or another person as a separate tutor or administrator of the minor's property alone, leaving care of the minor's person with the existing or otherwise appropriate tutor. The court can act on its own motion, on the motion of the tutor or another person entitled to the tutorship if no tutor has yet been appointed, or on the motion of any interested person, though that last route requires a contradictory hearing with the tutor, administrator, or person entitled to the tutorship or administration.

Whoever is appointed under this article, or under the parallel Civil Code provision it cross-references, has to furnish security under Article 4131, the same security obligation that applies to tutors generally. Splitting the roles does not relax the protection built around managing a minor's assets.