page-79.html
1017 OCTOBER
80 / 96
choosing a guardian by jannean dixon, m.ed. before i had
children
, i had a very spontaneous, adventurous, try- anything-once mentality. having
children
put the brakes on that because now i have something, or someone, to live for. i gladly took myself out of the middle of my world and centered myself around my little bundle of joy. but what if i weren?t here? who would love her and raise her? guardianship =
tutor
ship when we think of a
person
who would take care of our
children
upon our death, we think of the word ?guardian.? however, in louisiana, this
person
is called the ?
tutor
.? according to local attorney sarah ?igpen, ?louisiana law provides that the last parent to die chooses a
tutor
(or guardian) for minor
children
. typically, this selection is made by both parents in their last will and testament. parents should note that in divorce situations, the other living parent is going to automatically be the ?natural
tutor
? for the
children
, unless there are specific and extenuating circumstances, and should that parent die, then he or she would have the right to select a guardian.? why choose? if you die without planning your estate and appointing a
tutor
, the court will choose who will take care of your
children
. ?is becomes an im
person
al process as the judges do not
person
ally know you or your
children
. ?ey do not have an understanding of your expectations and dreams for your
children
. furthermore, anyone with a familial tie to the
children
can step forward to request
tutor
ship and the battle for the
children
can get unpleasant. if no family can be identified, appointing a
tutor
gets even more complicated and
children
can end up in the foster system. as a parent, you probably want to choose the
person
who may end up raising your child. how to choose? first, acknowledge and accept that no one will ever take your place as your child ?s mom or dad. now, choose the next best
person
for the job. keep in mind aspects of raising your
children
that are important to you as you choose a potential
tutor
, such as schooling preference, religious affiliation, how nurturing the
person
is, the potential
tutor
?s resources, parenting style, values, age of the
tutor
, the
tutor
?s own family, and the
tutor
?s goals and ideals. does the potential
tutor
have medical issues that may prevent he or she from raising your
children
? does this
person
love your
children
and do your
children
love this
person
? ?a good guardian is going to be someone who you truly believe will have your child ?s best interest at heart,? ?igpen continues. also, know that you can appoint more than one
person
. you may have the perfect
person
in mind to handle the financial aspects of your legacy, but that
person
may not be great with your kids. ?at?s okay! in many cases, there are two people named in the last will and testament, a
tutor
for the care and wellbeing of the
children
, and a trustee to manage the financial aspects of child raising. ideally, these two people have a good working relationship. ?e
tutor
will raise the
children
with the money that is held in the trust and managed by the trustee. what is a trust? trusts tell where, upon your death, the
children
?s property will lie: life insurance, property, cash, college funds, etc. ?ese funds will be managed by the trustee and used to help the
tutor
raise the
children
to age of majority, and then parents select terms for when the
children
receive the rest of the inheritance funds. 8 0 b r p a r e n t s . c o m | o c t o b e r 2 0 1 7
children-tutor-trustee-81.html