Choose Your Kids' Guardians Now.

All parents should have Wills drafted to protect their youngest family members. A Will is the only document where you can nominate guardians for your minor children in the event both parents pass away at the same time.

If you are not married to your child's other parent, the surviving natural parent will either assume the sole parenting role or have priority as guardian. You can always nominate someone else other than your child's other natural parent to be his or her guardian if you have a good reason. For example, if the other parent is in jail, is an absentee parent or has other issues that would not make him or her a good choice to step in your shoes to continue parenting your child. In these cases, you can nominate who you think would be better suited to be your child's guardian and document your choice with a letter of intent. The court may not approve your choice, but your wishes will be known. Also, there is a possibility that an absentee natural parent may decide that he or she would not want to step into your shoes and would prefer to allow the child to be placed with your nomination of guardianship.

But if the unthinkable happens, and both parents pass away at the same time, guardians and alternate guardians need to be named in your Wills. There is no judge that wants to have to make a decision who should be the guardian in a situation like this. And this kind of situation can be exacerbated when there's a family fight over who should get the kids.

This happened to friends of mine recently. They had 3 young boys. My friends, as the boys' Mom and Dad, were both killed on a tragic car accident on their way to Arizona. Both sets of grandparents were older and in no position to care for the 3 young boys. Heart wrenching decisions had to be made to determine who will care for the boys immediately, can they be together and who will care for the boys permanently. When Mom and Dad both die, the kids still need someplace to spend the night and someone needs to frantically make the decisions.

Ask your potential guardian nomination if they will serve as guardians if needed. Make sure you have sufficient life insurance so that your guardians have enough funds to care for your children. Lastly, prepare your Wills and nominate guardians for your kids.

If you also own real estate in California, you should talk to your attorney about setting up a Living Trust as well. A Will is a must for nominating guardians, but it is only one document of many that make up a complete estate plan.