Parental rights in a will concern

[Gruffalo21]

Sorry if this a boring post, but something that's been bothering me for a while.
I have yet to get legal advice around this and write a will under a solicitors.

Has anyone ever had any concerns around leaving parental rights to their sibling (Aunt)? We have major concerns around this due to her manipulative, narcissistic partner, along with her own sensitive selfish nature. We would dread the day (if anything happened to both of us at once) our two young boys would be under his influence in a household.

We do have other trusted people (unrelated) who have said they would happily take guardianship.

If you have ever experienced this, did you specifically state that the relative was to have no parental rights? Provide evidence of why that person should not have rights?

If you have these concerns then why on earth isn’t it a priority to get it done asap? No one ever expects they will be the ones to die young. Please get it nailed down for your poor kids.

It's my understanding that you cannot 'give ' parental responsibility away in a will. You can name people to be guardians in the event of your death but social services would be involved and family would be considered above friends. If ss considered them suitable then that's where the children would go.

Not a legal professional.

Bu we just wrote into the will that X has agreed to be guardians for DC and stating their responsibilities and income from the estate until DC are 18 ... we also had Y incase X circumstances had changed.

(We didn't discuss any possibilities of an small income for looking after our DC with X or Y)
Luckily we never needed it!

PP’s are right that you can’t definitively decide. But your wishes would be given an awful lot of weight, especially if you set out why you have chosen the intended guardians, and why their aunt wouldn’t be suitable.

Sounds obvious but doesn’t always happen…. Do check with your intended guardians first that they are happy with this!

And yes, do it asap.

It is important that you draft a Will appointing guardians for any child under 18, otherwise the children could be taken into care by the LA until a judge decides who will look after them, which may not be your chosen person. Also it is important that you appoint someone you trust to be your executor / trustees. Minimum of 2 required.