Cheapest reliable will option covering child guardianship?

Will_Eye_Arm

Hi all.

We're a coffee with two young children.

We'd like to make a will stating that if we both die their auntie becomes their guardian / parent.

We're also about to sign up for joint life assurance so would want to state that the money would go to the children.

I guess it could be held somehow until they are 18?

We have no assets like savings or property.

Any advice on the most cost effective way to create the will and ensure its followed / found after death?

Thanks!

getmore4less

Guardians can be done separate from a will.

Any life cover can be done as a trust.

securityguy

"We're also about to sign up for joint life assurance so would want to state that the money would go to the children."

So you would expect the aunt to raise them without any additional funds? Has she agreed to that? I love my nephews, but I wouldn't have agreed to that: I wouldn't be willing to spend money on my nephews that I could be spending on my own children, just so that money could sit in a bank account until later. The whole point about life assurance when you have children is to provide funds for their upbringing.

Will_Eye_Arm

getmore4less wrote: »

Guardians can be done separate from a will.

Any life cover can be done as a trust.

Thanks, a trust could be the way forward. But...

securityguy wrote: »

"We're also about to sign up for joint life assurance so would want to state that the money would go to the children."

So you would expect the aunt to raise them without any additional funds? Has she agreed to that? I love my nephews, but I wouldn't have agreed to that: I wouldn't be willing to spend money on my nephews that I could be spending on my own children, just so that money could sit in a bank account until later. The whole point about life assurance when you have children is to provide funds for their upbringing.

Good points. I wonder if its possible to split the payout or maybe the guardian should get it all? What if they turned wicked step mother and spend the money and ditched the kids!

Or perhaps it would change over time.

If they are young, say 10, then the guardian would need a lot of money, but if they were 15, then they would need less and it would be nice for the kids to get some.

I guess its going to be pretty complicated to set up.

Yorkshireman99

Will_Eye_Arm wrote: »

Thanks, a trust could be the way forward. But...



Good points. I wonder if its possible to split the payout or maybe the guardian should get it all? What if they turned wicked step mother and spend the money and ditched the kids!

Or perhaps it would change over time.

If they are young, say 10, then the guardian would need a lot of money, but if they were 15, then they would need less and it would be nice for the kids to get some.

I guess its going to be pretty complicated to set up.

You need to make sure that the funds are ring fenced so that effectively the money can only be spent for the kids benefit. Some form of trust may be appropriate.

securityguy

Will_Eye_Arm wrote: »

Thanks, a trust could be the way forward.

Trusts are exactly the right thing for minor children. In principle, the money is in a trust, the trustees release appropriate funds to the guardians, the children have any residue at majority.

But in practice, it's much more complex than that. The guardians may need a larger house because they now have two extra children: who gets the equity in that? Suppose there is a large insurance payout, sufficient to fund private education and ponies, while the guardian's own children live in penury (a sort of reverse-Dursley situation)? Should the money be used to ensure that the guardian's own children and your children live to a similar style?

My children are adults now and I can't remember what was in the complex "appointing guardians" version of our will, nor can I be bothered to find it, but I think we just left a lot of the money to the guardians absolutely on the grounds that if we trust them with our children, we trust them with our money.