What would happen to the child in the event of..........................

Sarah-Jean

Sorry, I should have said, our executor and the preferred guardian for our children is aware of everything. It's the REST of the family we haven't discussed this with as they would not understand. I would never just saddle someone with 8 children and not even bother to ask them first!

Our executor is aware of all our wishes, and they are written into our wills in a lot of detail. They are also of the same mind as us when it comes to what should/would/could happen, how we'd react to certain situations and how we'd like our children raised and our estate dealt with in various scenarios. My Husband and I have mirror wills and these were updated together through the company we use for these things.

I'm surprised to hear you have just updated your Wills but none of these other things were discussed?

What other things should we have discussed? Our entire estate and wishes are covered by our will which was written years ago, although we only got around to updating it to include new children yesterday, so other than a power of attorney for if one dies and one is incapacitated I think we've covered everything?

dzug1

Sarah-Jean wrote: »

so other than a power of attorney for if one dies and one is incapacitated

A Power of Attorney is for rather more than just that. If one dies the other doesn't need to be incapacitated to face problems that a Power of Attorney would help to solve.


You maybe need to consider it in more detail

TBagpuss

Just to clarify:

You can (and should) appoint Guardian's for the children. The appointment of a Guardian only takes effect if there are no living parents with Parental Responsibility. Once it is effective, however, Guardianship gives that person legal authority to make decisions about the child. The Guardian would usually be the person whom the child would live with, but they could legally agree to the child living elsewhere.

You should also appoint trustees who are responsible for managing the financial assets on behalf of the child/children. It is common for the trustees and the Guardian to be the same people, but they don't have to be. You could, for instance, appoint a relation and your solicitor as the trustees, and the relative as Guardian.

If a family member does not agree with your choice of Guardian, or if you fail to make an appointment, then family members could apply to the court for a Child Arrangemtns ORder (previously a Residence Order) for the child to live with them. The court would then make a decision based on what they saw to be in the best interests of the child.

Social services would not automatically be involved - and do not have the power to override or disregard a legal guardian except in the same sorts of situations whether they can intervene where a parent is concerned - for instance if the Guardian were neglecting or harming the child.

When you have children, it is really important to review your will regularly to ensure that the arrangements are still appropriate - they may change as family members' lives change

g6jns_2

TBagpuss wrote: »

Just to clarify:

You can (and should) appoint Guardian's for the children. The appointment of a Guardian only takes effect if there are no living parents with Parental Responsibility. Once it is effective, however, Guardianship gives that person legal authority to make decisions about the child. The Guardian would usually be the person whom the child would live with, but they could legally agree to the child living elsewhere.

You should also appoint trustees who are responsible for managing the financial assets on behalf of the child/children. It is common for the trustees and the Guardian to be the same people, but they don't have to be. You could, for instance, appoint a relation and your solicitor as the trustees, and the relative as Guardian.

If a family member does not agree with your choice of Guardian, or if you fail to make an appointment, then family members could apply to the court for a Child Arrangemtns ORder (previously a Residence Order) for the child to live with them. The court would then make a decision based on what they saw to be in the best interests of the child.

Social services would not automatically be involved - and do not have the power to override or disregard a legal guardian except in the same sorts of situations whether they can intervene where a parent is concerned - for instance if the Guardian were neglecting or harming the child.

When you have children, it is really important to review your will regularly to ensure that the arrangements are still appropriate - they may change as family members' lives change

All sound advice. I would add that despite having no right to ignore a correctly appointed guardian local authorities have a bad reputation for barging in and disregarding the rights of people. Whoever is appointed as a children's guardian needs to be prepared to stand there ground and not be bullied by social services.

onlyroz

We asked my brother to be a guardian. He said yes but his wife said no, so we're back to square one. I'm thinking that we should appoint my mum as the guardian/trustee - she's a bit old really to be taking on two boistrous kids herself but I'd trust her to make a sensible decision over where they should go.

Would it be possible to write a will including these sorts of clauses during the free Will-Aid month? Or would it be deemed too complicated to do for free?