Considerations for Executors and Guardians

Executors & Trustees

Executors are the people appointed in your Will who will deal with your financial affairs after your death:

• They will need to locate the Will. It makes sense to tell your executors that they are the executors, where the Will is being kept and ensure that they can get quick access to it.
• They will need to locate your assets - including bank and building society account, life insurance policies, etc. It makes sense to compile a list and keep it up to date.
• They will need to distribute any items in accordance with any directions in your Will, and then sell the rest.
• They will need to distribute the cash in accordance with the instructions in your Will.
• When money is being left to children under the age of 18 it will be held in Trust by Trustees who are appointed in your Will.
• The Executors will normally continue to act as your Trustees although if you prefer you can appoint different people in each of these roles.

There are options that can be detailed in your Will that will govern the way the Trust is set up and run:

• At what age the children receive the Trust Fund.
• When and under what circumstances, money being held in the Trust Fund can be used for children's benefit.
• Whether money can be made available for Guardians.

You can choose what powers the Trustees have (and don't have) while they are looking after the Trust Fund.

In choosing Executors and / or Trustees you should consider:

• Age - will they be able to cope with the work involved in realising your estate? Are they likely to survive to the end of the Trust? Once the appointment takes effect, the Trustees will be able to appoint new Trustees to take over from them.
• Location - will they be able to deal with the logistics of selling and /or clearing the house, for example?
• Finances - do they have the skills to look after and invest a potentially large sum of money? They will be able to take expert advice but will still need to make decisions based on that advice.
• Moral issues - do the Trustees have the same outlook on life as you? Will they ensure that your money is spent on your children in a manner similar to your own?

Guardians

Looking after what is most valuable - your children

Everyone who has children under 18 should appoint Guardians to look after their children in the event of their untimely death. For this reason it is more important that parents of young children make a Will than elderly people.

Guardians are appointed by someone who has parental responsibility for a child - and the appointment passes on parental responsibility.

The birthmother always has parental responsibility. The father only has parental responsibility in the following circumstances:-

• If he was married to the birth mother at the time of the birth - or subsequently marries her.
• If he was awarded parental responsibility either through a parental responsibility agreement with the birth mother, or through a court order.
• If the child was born after 1 December 2003 and he is named on the child's birth certificate.

Unmarried fathers of children born before 1 December 2003 do not therefore automatically have parental responsibility. If the birth mother wants the natural father to look after their child after her death, she must name him as a Guardian in her Will.

If everyone who has parental responsibility has died, the local authority will have parental responsibility and be responsible for care of the child - which may be with relatives, or foster carers or in a residential home.

Guardians will be responsible for looking after children until they become 18. In choosing Guardians you should consider:

• Age - will they be able to cope with bringing up very young children or be able to control children in their teenage years?
• Location - will your children have to move school and be separated from their friends?
• Finances - will they be able to accommodate your children? Trusts can be set up in your Will to provide income and capital for your children's benefit. Further provisions can be made for Guardians.
• Religious / moral issues - do the Guardians have religious or other beliefs that are compatible with the upbringing that you would like your children to have?