Who should you choose as a guardian in your estate plan?

You start your estate plan with a focus on financial assets. You want to preserve your wealth, perhaps maximizing the amount that gets passed down to your descendants. You may want to use trusts and other estate planning tools to guide how wealth is handled moving forward.

But you also have children of your own, and they may still be minors. At some point, you might consider adding a guardianship to the estate plan. If you pass away, after all, it’s not just your money that is important. You need to make a plan for who will take care of your children. But how do you find the right person?

Consider their age

To start with, consider age carefully. Grandparents often feel like a natural fit, but that may only make sense when the children are very young. Remember that your guardian may have to care for that child until they are 18 years old or even older.

Consider their ability

You also want to think about the financial ability that the person has to care for your child and how your child would realistically fit into their life. For instance, you may not want to pick someone who already has a large family and many financial obligations.

Consider their willingness

Finally, talk to the person that you want to choose as the guardian and ensure that they’re willing to take on the job. It creates a lot of complexities in the future if your guardian doesn’t want to care for your children. You have to know that they are 100% willing to accept this role.

Once you decide who you would like to choose as a guardian for your children, then it’s time to look into the necessary legal steps to set up your estate plan.  Call us or contact us today for your free initial consultation.