If you have a child under the age of 18, it’s sensible to appoint a legal guardian in your will. In the event of your death – and the death of anyone else who has parental rights and responsibilities – the legal guardian will take over the parental rights and responsibilities for your child.
Parental rights and responsibilities means things like:
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providing a home
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protecting the child
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choosing and providing for their education
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agreeing to their medical treatment
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looking after their property
Consider choosing someone your child knows and feels comfortable with as their guardian
The person you choose as a guardian must be over 18 at the date of your death. Ideally, they should also be someone your child knows and feels comfortable with. When you’re deciding who to choose, it can be useful to think about:
- Their morals, ethics or religion – would you feel comfortable that this person will bring up your child to value the things you believe in?
- Their family structure – are they responsible adults, and are they part of an existing family network?
- Their location – do they live nearby, would there be disruption to the child’s routine?
Ideally, you’ll appoint either one person or a couple to act as guardians. You can also choose one or more people to act as substitute guardians in the event that your first choice is unable or unwilling to take the responsibility if the time comes.
We'll ask you for some details
If you decide to include guardians in your will we will ask you for their:
- full name
- date of birth, email address or postal address
If you have children under the age of 18, you'll see the option to add guardians in your online account:
Leaving money to a guardian to say thank you
If you want to leave a sum of money to a guardian as a ‘thank you’ for acting in this role, you’ll need to use our telephone service. We’ll talk through the situation and explain how we can help. To find out more, book a call with a will specialist.