Dh and I really need to do our wills. Dh has one but it's not up to date and I don't have one at all. I was talking to my friend about this as she has done one recently, and she was saying about selecting a guardian for her ds, which in her case was her sister, and quite straightforward.
The thing is I have no idea who we should choose. We have ds who is 2, and I'm pregnant with dc2. Dh parents are both nearly 70, my mum is younger, although not by much, but on her own so would certainly struggle with 2. And in any event, assuming dh and I died in eg 5-10 years, none of the grandparents are going to be in a position to look after young children full time. My brother lives VERY abroad, and won't be returning to the uk. Dh and I both agree that his brother would not be suitable. Ds godmother is my very good friend, and while I'd be more than happy for her to have him, they have 2 dc of their own and I think having 2 more would be an issue, especially financially (although obviously they would have money from our estate) ds godfather is dhs friend, his children are all grown up and I'm not sure he'd want to inherit another 2.
This is giving me sleepless nights! How on earth do you make sure your dc are looked after in the event of your death?!
Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you have any legal concerns we suggest you consult a solicitor.
Legal matters
No idea who would be guardian to dc.....
Tory79 · 01/02/2014 21:50
This is the one thing which puts people off making a will for years, it is an incredibly difficult decision for some people who, like you, don't have an obvious candidate.
I'm a will writer and always suggest in these circumstances that you put in a "good enough" guardian if there is no perfect one. The important thing to remember is that the guardian doesn't have to have your children living with them, but does have the ability to make decisions about where the children should live.
So for example, the children are aged 17 and 15 when the second of you dies (extremely unlikely that you will both pop off beforehand!). The 17 year old is in the middle of A levels and the 15 year old in the first year of GCSEs. It would obviously be inappropriate for them to be relocated to live with your brother if he's still abroad. It may not be such a big issue at that time for them to live with either of the godparents. What I'd suggest if I was doing your wills is to appoint all three of those people to be guardians. They would then get their heads together and decide whether the children would live with one of them or to board at school if that's an option, or to live with the family of one of their close friends, or someone with whom they have by that time a good and close relationship (one of your own close friends). You are giving them flexibility to make the decision that best suits your children at that time in their lives.
It is more important to make a will with perhaps a semi-open guardianship plan such as the one above than not make one at all, as the risks of having no will at all are that your husband isn't going to automatically inherit all of your estate and that can cause complications which result in him being forced to sell your home (depending on value) in order to put some of the money into trust for the children.
PM me if you need more info 
. Making a will takes up an hour of your time (or it does if you come to me!) and you can then tick it off the list of things keeping you awake at night
Silly
Yes, definitely talk to the potential guardians, they may be much more willing than you expect.
Whoever has the care of the children will not be out of pocket, as the trustees will release money from the trust fund to pay for their maintenance, education and other expenses like holidays.
Thank you both, I will talk this over with dh and see what he thinks. It's such a horrible thing to have to think about 
Mumblechum where are you based?? I also have no idea how to go about finding someone to do our wills!
I cover all of England and Wales by phone and email. Feel free to PM me if you like
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.