Guardian/Conservator Nominations For Children
When you become a parent, estate planning takes on a special new urgency. While it’s important for all adults to have basic plans prepared to deal with potential emergencies, parents need to prepare not only for their own benefit but also to ensure that their children are protected and provided for.
Jones Law helps individuals and families with guardian and conservator nominations designed to ensure that if the worst should happen, the care of your children would be assured. We work with you to help you understand the obligations of these roles so that you can choose the right individuals to meet potential needs in the future. Contemplating a future where you will not be there to care for and support your children is a painful process, but by taking the right steps to prepare, you can feel confident that you’ve taken the best steps to protect your children from the unknowns of the future.
Guardians and Conservators Help in Different Ways
It is important to designate qualified individuals to serve as primary and alternate guardians as well as primary and alternate conservators. A guardian manages daily care of a minor while a conservator manages the money and other financial resources acquired by a minor due to inheritance, life insurance, gifts, and other means. The same person can serve in both roles, but if a child has significant assets or the caregiver who will serve as guardian is not comfortable or skilled with money management, then it is often wise to appoint someone else to take on this job.
Duties of Guardian
A guardian generally takes on many of the tasks we associate with parenting. In fact, parents are considered to be the natural guardians of their children. A guardian appointed if parents are deceased or unable to provide appropriate care for other reasons are responsible for duties such as:
- Providing living arrangements
- Ensuring the child gets a good education
- Managing the child’s nutritional and health care needs
- Overseeing social development such as arranging for continued relationships with friends and family, and providing enrichment
- Monitoring a child’s emotional needs and seeking counseling or other assistance as necessary
- Encouraging a child’s spiritual development
When considering the choice of individuals to nominate as guardian, you need to think about those whose interests and child-raising philosophies align with yours and who you can trust to make choices that you would approve of to meet your child’s best interests. You will also want to designate one or more alternate candidates in case the person or people you nominate initially are unable to serve due to health issues or other reasons.
When a Conservator is Necessary
Children who lose their parents often receive money from a variety of sources. Friends and family may make gifts and contributions for the child’s future needs. A parent may have had a life insurance policy through work or purchased on their own. And the child may inherit assets from the parents. A conservator manages these assets because the child is not legally able to until they reach the age of majority. When a child’s property is substantial, it makes sense to appoint someone with money management experience to handle the investment and care of assets so that a child’s needs can be met for years to come.
For that reason, Colorado law requires appointment of a conservator if a child inherits $11,000 or more. In addition, a conservator must be appointed if a child is the beneficiary of a life insurance policy. If a child receives real estate or other property with a title, a conservator must be appointed before that property can be sold.
A conservator is a fiduciary, which means they have a special legal duty to act in the child’s best interests. They are obligated to make decisions that serve the financial needs of the child rather than decisions that benefit them personally.
Nominating a Guardian and Conservator in Colorado
Most often, parents nominate their choice of guardian and conservator in special provisions included in their wills. At Jones Law, we can not only work with you to help you assess choices for guardianship but we can prepare a guardianship and conservator nomination that explains your preferences clearly to avoid ambiguity in the future. While a court will still need to approve appointment if it should become necessary, it is rare for a court to override a guardianship nomination in a will.
We can also include a testamentary trust in your will to provide for the management of property the child would receive from your estate if you pass away before your child reaches the age of majority.
Let Jones Law Protect Your Child with a Tailored Guardianship Nomination
Knowing that you are prepared for potential emergencies in the future enables you to enjoy the present to the fullest extent. The team at Jones Law is ready to protect you with the right comprehensive plans, including guardianship and conservatorship nominations for your children. To create or update your plans, schedule a consultation with our team today.