How to Name a Guardian in a Willn
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by: ryshep13@gmail.com
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As an Estate Planning lawyer, one of the saddest situations that I deal with is where the courts are appointing guardians for children whose parents have died without writing a will and naming guardians. The courts do their best, but without a will, I have seen families torn apart when the judge makes his final determination for guardian. The family will, often times, never see the kids again.nnAs an estate planning attorney I have had couples come in to do their estate planning and they can't agree on guardians for their kids, so they don't do their estate planning. Picking guardians is difficult. Who wants custody of your children? Who will best raise your children? Where will they be cared for? Will your children be loved? n nYour choice of guardians for your children is important when you do your estate planning. It is easier for you, than it is for the judge. You need to act now to make sure your children are protected by naming guardians for them in your will. If you are a grandparent, you need to make sure your kids do their estate planning or at least have wills that name guardians for the grandchildren. nGrandparents need to make sure their kids do their estate planning and name guardians for the grandchildren in a will. Let me tell you about one estate planning case where the parents were killed in an auto accident and the grandparents hoped to raise their grandchildren. The parents had neglected to do their estate planning.The judge appointed a shoestring relative as guardian. n The Court was petitioned by and appointed a distant relative to be guardian. Right after the accident, I got a call from the grandparents to make out a trust and set up their estate plan. They left a substantial amount of their estate to the orphaned grandchildren. Twenty years later they had me redo their wills and trusts and take the grandchildren off the list of beneficiaries. The grandchildren haven't seen the grandparents for twenty years.nnAfter considering who you name in your will, the probate court will decide who to give legal custody and legal authority to raise your children. That person will be the guardian.n The court will almost always honor the selection you have made in your will. Before you do your estate planning or draw up a will, take a moment to think about who and what you really want for your children's guardian. It is an important part of the process. Once you understand what you want, when you write your will, you can "educate" the probate court. You should make two or three different guardian selections in your will. If for some reason the first selection doesn't work, next in line will serve and so forth. Every selection the court considers should have restrictions or things for the court to look at. The guardians could start to serve many years from now so you have to take that time lag into consideration.nnFor instance, the health of the grandparents could change, so you could restrict their service on the condition of their ability to care for the children. If you name an uncle or aunt, restrict their service to the condition that they are still married to their same spouse and are happily married. You could ask the judge to have the guardians raise the children in your family home, or have them raised in a specific religion. If you give the court guidance, the judge would appreciate it. Lawyers seldom put restrictions like these in a will; it isn't worth their time. These restrictions should be included in your will-just ask for them.nnMy new book, Guaranteed Millionaire, gives you a lot of detail on naming guardians in your will. Naming guardians won't give you a million dollars, or even save you money, but some things are more important than money. nnMake sure you get more information about protecting your assets by ordering my FREE DVD.
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For more information on naming a guardian please visit our website above and get a free 90 minute informational DVD.n
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