Relationship of guardianship court proceedings to civil and criminal proceedings. Sources. Foreigners. The activities of the guardianship court fall under the area of voluntary jurisdiction, which, apart from special court jurisdictions, forms the third major branch of legal administration alongside civil and criminal law. The guardianship court primarily fulfills its tasks in the general, that is, public interest. This circumstance distinguishes the activities of the guardianship court from civil jurisdiction, which is essentially only concerned with regulating the legal relationships of the disputing parties. This difference explains why the decisions of civil courts are fundamentally not binding for the guardianship court in the sense that the guardianship court is not obliged to follow them if it deems it necessary not to.