Appoint the Best Legal Guardian
for Your Children

Your most precious asset is your children. Naming a legal guardian for minor children is probably the most compelling reason for making a will.

Unlike temporary guardianship, the role of the guardian will continue until the child reaches at least major age. Parents have to put aside any thoughts of hurting somebody's feelings and decide what is best for the child when naming a person.

adult holding baby's hand

Sidebar: If you are here and are looking for information on adult guardianship then please follow the link to see our article explaining the differences between a guardian, conservator and curator and the legal avenues that can be pursued to take care of an elderly parent, for example.

Legal Guardianship of a Minor Assigned in a Will

If a parent is the sole guardian of a child, then such a parent may appoint a guardian in the event of that parent's death. This must be clearly stipulated in the single parent's will and only becomes effective when the parent passes away.

The parent may appoint more than one person as guardian and the appointed person(s) must expressly or appliedly accept the appointment.

If you do not have a will or your will does not make provision for a guardian, the Court will appoint a guardian-ad-litem for minor children. This person will represent the child (speak for the child because the child cannot do so) in any court proceedings that involves the child. A close relative would be a good choice as guardian ad litem or a lawyer could represent the child.

Note: Please refer to our guidelines on Writing a Will where you can find links to a selection of free legal forms for last wills.

Addendum to Will - Codicil to Change a Guardian

Naming a guardian to your children in your Will is not cast in stone forever. There are a number of reasons why you may want to change an appointed guardian or alternate guardian at any time.

A guardian may pass away, may move too far away or may become unwilling or unable to fulfil this duty.

It is a simple matter to execute a Codicil to Change a Guardian without the need to make a new Will.

Take a look at our legal guidelines and our free printable Codicil to Will form to effect your amendments:

Addendum to a Will - Follow our 7 Steps to Make a Codicil to Will.

You can also add a Letter of Wishes as an addendum to your Will. This is an informal and confidential letter that is not legally binding, but aims to guide your guardian as to discretionary decisions for your child. For example, you could express the wish that you would like your child to participate in a team sport, or attend religious instruction until a certain age etc.
Codicil to Will - What are the formal requirements to execute a valid codicil.
Free Codicil to Will Form - To change a guardian or alternate guardian. This form also provides sample wording for a codicil to remove a beneficiary, delete sections of your Will etc. It's available as a fillable PDF and a Word document.

Choosing a Legal Guardian

For most parents the choice will be a relative or trusted friend. By law this person must be of major age. Apart from the basic needs such as food, shelter, health care and most importantly, a loving and caring environment, there are other considerations.

Education for Your Children: Will they need to change schools or change their form of schooling e.g. private vs. public schools, home schooling vs. formal schooling.

Religion: Does the guardian share your religion, morals and values.

Time and Ability: Is the guardian often away on travels or have a very demanding job and is he/she physically in good health to take on the responsibility.

Providing Stability: Depending on the age of the children, this may be quite a long-term situation. Is the guardian in a stable career and/or relationship or is there a danger of further upheavals for your children in the future. Although life has no guarantees you can judge by their track record.

man holding baby

You may also want to consider appointing only one partner of a married couple. Should they get divorced, it would be clear who was the primary intended guardian.

Financial Concerns: Although being a guardian can be a non-paying job, you must consider if your assets can provide for the care of the children.

If not, you need to consider if the guardian can afford to provide care should state child support not be paid on time.

Managing Property or Other Assets: If the guardian will also be managing any property you leave your children, you have to specify that in your will.

Alternatively you could name an additional (separate) person to manage property or assign that duty to the executor of your estate.

Co-Guardianship in Family Wills

Co-guardianship can also be specified in the context of a Last Will and Testament and is generally done where a married couple are named as guardians.

Two unrelated people may agree to petition the court to be appointed as co-guardians. If there is no such agreement and more than one person wants to be appointed as guardian, then the court will rule in favor of ONE person and always with the best interests of the child the primary consideration.

Incidentally, the concept of 'best interest of a child' is based on international law.

toddler holding hands with two adults

NOTE: A situation may arise where co-guardians disagree on an important matter. For example:

Whether to consent to a minor's marriage
Selling immovable property of the minor or raising a mortgage on such property
Which school a child should attend
Whether a child may go on an expensive school excursion
Application for a passport
Emigration of a child - review our information on Parental Child Abduction

If one guardian withholds consent unreasonably then a court order can be obtained by the other so one guardian can act without the other's consent.

There may also be a situation where the guardians get divorced with the ramifications thereof.

The solution could be where one person is named as guardian and the second person as an alternate, in case the first named cannot fulfill the role for whatever reason.

This will also allow for one person to be the sole decision maker for a child.

You therefore need to consider the above and the appointment of guardian(s) from every angle.

It will also be of benefit to you to review the legal requirements, duties and responsibilities of a guardian.

As an aside, consider this for a moment too:
A parent may have the need to be appointed as a legal guardian of his/her own child. This could happen because the child may inherit assets and does not have the ability to manage the inheritance as yet.

By setting up a legal guardianship the parent then has a fiduciary duty (a legal obligation) to manage the assets to the child's sole benefit.

Having made your choice, you must discuss it with the prospective legal guardians to confirm their willingness. Give him/her time to think about it before they commit.

Then go through the whole process again in order to name an alternate - should circumstances prevent your first choice to act as guardian or he/she is not willing to take on the responsibility anymore when the time comes.

You need to review your choice of legal guardian appointed in your will from time to time. You may have appointed your parents as guardians at a time when they were in good health, but that may have changed. Or your very dear friends whom you've appointed may have moved away to another province or even another country.