Choosing the ideal guardian for your child - best tips

A will is where you can directly state how you want your property to be distributed and to whom they will go. But it also has another advantage: You can name who you want your children's guardian to be in your will.

A guardian has to be someone you trust, someone you know will take care of your children and who will raise them until they are of legal age, when the guardianship legally ends. This person has to be someone you can entrust your children's lives to. It is also better to choose an alternate guardian should the original guardian be unable to take responsibility.

Obviously choosing a guardian has to be of your own decision or of you and your spouse's together. Normally, the surviving spouse or parent automatically becomes the guardian (if living in the same household), but it can be someone else if that is what you would prefer, as long as it is specified in your will.

If the parents are divorced, the parent with legal custody of the children has the right to choose a guardian. However, if the person chosen is not the biological parent, the court usually does not abide by the parent's decision.

However, just because you have named them in the will does not mean that he/she will automatically become your children's guardian. The court must approve of your decision first, to see who is fit and able to do the job and who can best take care of your children.