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Your Will, your legacy: who should I appoint as guardian for my children?

1 January 2021 | 1 minute watch

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Your Will, your legacy: who should I appoint as guardian for my children?
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Your Will, your legacy: who should I appoint as guardian for my children?

​​​Note: We have provided a transcript of the video if you are unable to listen to the audio. This transcript is generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers and may contain errors.

A family member or close friend is usually best, but it should be someone that you would trust to make decisions about your child's life if you weren't around. The child does not have to live with the guardian, but they usually do. So ideally, it would be someone who has a close relationship with your child already, and who has lifestyle and parenting style that would fit with your child's life. It does require careful thought though and you should speak to the person you're considering appointing to be sure that they would be happy to act. It is usually advisable that the guardian and executor of your will are different people, because the executor will be in charge of the financial side, whereas the guardian will be in charge your child's well-being. And so having two individuals helps to ensure that there are the appropriate checks and balances in place.

A family member or close friend is usually best, but it should be someone you would trust to make decisions about your child’s life if you were not around.

Usually a child will live with their guardian (though they don’t have to) so ideally the guardian would be someone who has a good relationship with your child and a lifestyle and parenting style that would fit with your child’s life. It does require careful thought and you should speak to the person you are considering appointing to make sure they would be happy to act as guardian.

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​​​Note: We have provided a transcript of the video if you are unable to listen to the audio. This transcript is generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers and may contain errors.

A family member or close friend is usually best, but it should be someone that you would trust to make decisions about your child's life if you weren't around. The child does not have to live with the guardian, but they usually do. So ideally, it would be someone who has a close relationship with your child already, and who has lifestyle and parenting style that would fit with your child's life. It does require careful thought though and you should speak to the person you're considering appointing to be sure that they would be happy to act. It is usually advisable that the guardian and executor of your will are different people, because the executor will be in charge of the financial side, whereas the guardian will be in charge your child's well-being. And so having two individuals helps to ensure that there are the appropriate checks and balances in place.

This document (and any information accessed through links in this document) is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Professional legal advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from any action as a result of the contents of this document.

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