Many refer to the day their child is born as one of the best days of their lives. Friends and families will spend months preparing for a baby to arrive. The nursery is set up, the crib is put together, and even the closet is stocked with month’s worth of tiny little outfits. You’ve done everything you can think of to make sure you are ready to raise your child.

But what if something tragic happens to you?

It may be uncomfortable to think about, but it is important to plan for your child’s well being in the future, even if you’re not around. A decision needs to be made about who is going to raise your child if you can’t. You may have grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles, or even good friends that you might consider. However, the best place to start may actually be with who you would not want to raise your child.

More often than not, clients want to make sure a certain person or persons are not allowed the opportunity to raise their children. It may be easier to pick who you wouldn’t want than who you would want. What it comes down to is, if you don’t name who you want to raise your children, the court does it for you and if they make a bad choice, it is your child who will suffer the consequences.

So once you have ruled people out, you need to find your candidates. Make a list of the factors you are considering. Adding some logic to such an emotional decision will not only help find the right person, but it can rule out the wrong person as well.

Once you have a list of people in mind, the most important thing left to do is speak with your possible choices and make sure they are willing. Discuss with them if they are not only capable, but comfortable with taking on this responsibility. It’s not safe to just assume someone will raise your children. You may be leaving a life insurance policy to lessen the financial burden, but as you may already know, being a parent is a 24/7 job.

Once you have made the right decision for your family, make it legal and have your Guardianship Will with Minor Trust drafted to represent that decision. If you don’t have that done, all the time and effort you spent deciding on the right person will be wasted, and the court will still make the choice for you. You never know what the future may hold for your family, but it is important to be as prepared as possible.

Subscribe to our blog!