Young families looking to protect their children in the event of both parents’ deaths have two main tools to use in estate planning: Guardianship, and
Trusts for Minors. A Guardian is a person appointed to look after the minor children if their parents die. Ideally it will be someone in the same community
and from the same family – a sibling with children of their own is often the best – but the situation is more challenging where there are no family
members, or they live far away, or may be inappropriate. Or don’t want to do it: Make sure you ask your guardian(s) if they want the job before naming
them! The appointment of a guardian is not “written in stone” and the courts can always change it to someone more appropriate if the person you have
appointed is no longer the best choice for the kids, perhaps because they have died, moved, or no longer want the job.
Most modern wills contain a Trust for Minors provision, in case some part of the estate ends up going to children. Usually their share of the money will be
invested for each child until they are a specified age, now often 21 or 25 years. Your trustee (usually the same person as your executor) will have the
power to dip into the trust fund to pay for things like school, vacations, or living costs while the child is still a minor, and the child gets the balance
after they hit the target age.