Guardians on a will

[martysparty99]

Hi, We are going to create a will and prob should have done before but its one of those things you just keep putting off!? We have 2 teenage kids (15/13) and of course in the wall we need to state who their guardians would be if something happened to us. Our issue is we just do not know who to name. We dont have any close family or even that many friends. We thought of one person but have not known him that long. Any advice on this please?

It is vanishingly unlikely that both parents would die at the same time. In view of their ages, the wishes of the children would be considered in conjunction with your own - do they have any uncles/aunts/grandparents/family friends that would be able to care for them in this circumstance?

Sadly there are no grandparents, uncles etc. My wife has a brother but does not speak to him sadly. I have an aunt but she is 97 and not in a position to look after them.

You don't need to include anything on the topic and it's so unlikely to be needed it isn't worth worrying about IMO.

Hi, so legally we don't need to put anything in for guardians?

You don’t legally need to put anything. But the point of a will is to make your wishes known, even if it “vanishingly unlikely” that that you might both die before the kids are grown up. You could though, and that’s the reason for having a will (bit like insurance: you hopefully won’t need it but it’s good to have)

There is no legal requirement for you to name guardians in your will. You can do so if you want to be sure what will happen to them if you both die, but you don't have to.

No, not needed so crack on and make those wills!

(Ours don't cover guardians and all DC are grown up now so it wasn't needed).

No, you don't have to.

Even if you did, it's just a way of expressing your preference and not a guarantee it would definitely happen that way. Should children be orphaned, social services will decide, taking into account the children's and your views (if expressed).