Nominating Guardians for Minor Children - The Part You Don't See.

One of the most important things a parent can do is make their nominations for guardians in writing for their minor children in the event something should happen to them.

In California, you can nominate a guardian in a variety of ways with a nomination in a Will being the most common. That being said, our firm recommends that nominations for guardians be included in a Will for most parents.

This is important to remember and we are constantly reminded everyday as we fight contested guardianship battles.

Just yesterday, TLD attorney Monica Goel successfully handled a contested guardianship in our local courts. A mother of a thirteen year old child nominated her very close friends to be her daughter's guardian should something happen to her in her Will. Something did happen and she died.

The close friends filed a petition for temporary guardianship based on the mother's wishes for the minor, which was vigorously contested by the minor child's great-uncle and second cousin. Since the mother's wishes were clear, the court hung its hat on honoring decedent's nomination and wishes.

This is the part that parents don't see because something has happened to them. Don't let this happen to your children.

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Estate Planning, Probate and Trusts involve complex areas of law. Individual circumstances must be considered before any advice can be given.  The general information above is not to be construed as legal advice, which can only be given after consideration of the unique facts of each matter. Please seek the advice or counsel of your attorney, financial advisor or CPA as it may be appropriate.

Comments

[Joe Lumsdaine]

This case really highlights the importance of a legal document nominating a guardian overcoming the usual bias towards awarding guardianship of a minor to another family member. In my experience in estate planning, oftentimes a parent believes that the best caretaker for their child is not a family member, but someone else in whom they have confidence. Absent a legally written nomination, family members will always get the priority.

[Susan Nattrass]

People are always a surprises to find out that they are only "nominating" the guardian, when they die, other people may nominate themselves - especially if the estate is one they want to get their hands on. Can definately get ugly.

[Batya]

Here is a useful article on Estate planning law in Ontario Canada and the effects of not having a last will and testament that was written by a Toronto Wills Lawyer- http://www.zvulony.com/do_i_need_a_will.html

[Diane Regal, MI]

I have a question - recently my sister was murdered by her estranged husband. Her youngest child was taken by his brother and now he and his wife have temporary guardianship. I was unable to get the youngest child because the judge wants to keep the children together - even though there is a gap in the children’s ages. The older children are not the greatest influence for this young child. The uncle and his family will not cooperate with me to see the child - even though the judge said I can see the child every other weekend. I know I can go back to the judge but, isn’t their anything else I can do to get the child on a permanent basis?