Guardianship for adults is a family law institute that protects adults who lack business capacity and people who are unable to protect their rights and interests for other reasons. Custodial protec-tion is based on the principle of protecting the dignity of the ward, solidarity and mutual respect, as well as proportionate and mildest intervention in family life with the obligation to respect fun-damental human rights. As a result, it is necessary to provide protection with as few restrictions as possible on the on residentes' rights, respecting their views and opinions and encouraging their independence. The aim of this paper is to analyze the institute of guardianship in the historical and contemporary context, to discuss the issue of the implementation of the procedure of deprivation of business capacity, and to present the positions of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia in this area expressed by this court in its recent practice. Special emphasis in the work is placed on issues of protection of persons with mental disorders and intellectual disabilities through the guardianship institute. It also tries to point out the im-portance of developing effective mechanisms that would ensure the continuous inclusion of such persons in society and encourage their active contribution to it.