Q. My husband and I have been told to appoint guardians to look after our small child in the even of our deaths. What are guardians and how would I appoint one?
A. A guardian is an individual appointed to be the guardian of a child under 18. A guardian can make important decisions about the child's life in areas such as medical treatment and education, and also has a duty to care for and protect the child. Parents who have parental responsibility for a child can, in a signed and dated document, appoint a guardian to be responsible for the child after their deaths. Most parents choose to appoint guardians by will and this is good practice because a will is less likely to be forgotten or mislaid than a separate, less formal document.
Q Who can be a guardian?
A. A parent can appoint a single guardian or a number of guardians. Parents often choose to appoint a married couple as joint guardians. Only individuals, and not, for example, trust companies, can be guardians. To avoid difficulties parents should appoint the same guardian.
Q. How will the guardians manage for money?
Children are very expensive to look after (as I can confirm from personal experience!). Proper provision should be made to provide for the cost of this. This can be done by either leaving a legacy in the will to the guardian or by authorising the executors to pay monies which they are holding on trust for the children to the guardians for a child's welfare & benefit.
Be Guided by the Experts. Should you have any queries regarding guardianship or nay other legal matter it is important to take expert legal advice. Please contact Keith Swan of Patterson, Glenton & Stracey Solicitors by email at ks@pgslaw.co.uk or by telephone on 0808 231 7043. Patterson, Glenton & Stracey have provided legal advice to the people of South Tyneside for over 125 years. For details of their full range of services and to view previous Gazette articles please log on to www.pgslaw.co.uk.
