To make sure someone will take care of their children if they pass away, parents often pick guardians. They can do this as part of the estate planning process. The guardians only apply until the children are no longer minors, in most cases.
If you’re thinking about doing this yourself, you may be mulling over who to choose. It can help to consider the most popular choices in the United States.
To follow the trends, just pick your own mother. That is the person who gets selected as the guardian most often “by a significant margin.”
If you cannot pick your mother or you simply do not want to, the next most popular choice is your sister. The drop-off after that is notable, but fathers come in third. In fourth place are brothers.
Naturally, you do not even have to pick a family member. Some parents pick friends who are closer to them than family. Blood relatives are clearly the top choice for most families, but that doesn’t have to be right for your children.
When deciding who to pick, you want to consider things like the financial stability of the guardian, whether or not they are married, if they have kids of their own, if they are in good enough health to care for the kids until they turn 18 and how well your ideals, goals and parenting styles line up with one another.
No matter who you choose, this is a big decision and can have a massive impact on your children’s future. Be sure you know exactly what steps you and your family will need to take.
