[WSBAPT] Excluding an individual as guardian in will

[Andrekita Silva]

  Law Office of
F.ANDREKITA SILVA
____________________________________________  
 
                                            
                     November 12, 2021
 
The court must make an appointment that is in the child’s best  
interest. A court will consider the wishes of the deceased parent.  
However, if one parent is still alive, by operation of law, the  
surviving parent becomes the child’s custodial parent. Even if the  
surviving parent only had a couple days a month under a parenting plan  
order.
 
If one parent is still living, but some other interested family member  
thinks surviving parent is really not in child’s best interest, that  
interested party can petition the court for guardianship. The bio  
parent has the constitutional right to the care and custody of their  
bio child so the evidence has to be pretty heavy against them (like  
abuse, neglect, etc.).
 
Under the new statute, children over the age of 12 can be appointed a  
lawyer if they want one, and the court will commonly appoint a  
guardian ad litem if the guardianship is disputed (and there is a well  
founded basis for the dispute).  
 
Sometimes, a divorced parent will say “no one from OP’s family).  If  
your client is nominating someone outside the family (like an aunt,  
uncle, grandparent from OP’s family), absent good evidence of what is  
wrong with the close family relative, I think the close family  
relative will prevail. 
 
In dependency actions, it’s required/ mandatory that the state try to  
identify biological family for a permanent placement. So, I believe  
the court would take guidance from dependency laws when making a  
decision on guardianship matters under title 26.
 
So, client can nominate whoever they want.  The court will consider  
the bio parent’s wishes but the court is obligated to act in the  
child’s best interest.  Bio family, bio relatives have a headstart.   
In some ways, its a good problem to have that alot of people might be  
stepping forward to fight to care for your children. 
 
andrekita
Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva
1325 Fourth Avenue, Suite 2000
Seattle, Washington 98101
206-224-8288
www.seattle-silvalaw.com

Quoting Suzanne Lieberman <suzanne at cmslawfirm.com>:

> Good morning,       
>    Client is concerned that a close relative might try to step  
> forward for guardianship over client's children if the entire list  
> of proposed guardians in client's will is exhausted. Would a judge  
> honor a request for exclusion, and if so, would the guardianship  
> paragraph of the will be the only place this exclusion needs to be  
> mentioned? 
>
>                                                  Sincerely, 
>            
>           Suzanne Lieberman
>
>          CMS Law Firm LLC[1]
>          811 KIRKLAND AVE. SUITE 201 (please note new address!)
>          Kirkland, WA 98033
>          206-383-6484 (Cell Phone)
>          206-659-1512 (Main Office)
>           
>           
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Links:
------
[1] http://cmslawfirm.com/

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