[WSBAPT] Guardianship of Minors Designation?

[Andrekita Silva]

Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

June 25, 2026

Lynn,

Are you wanting to designate a guardian while the bio parent is still 
alive, but just wants to designate someone besides themselves to care 
for their child? You can do that informally with a Power of Attorney as 
long as there isn't another bio parent out there to object and Petition 
the court.

Or, in your case, did a person already draft their Will, or they just 
don't feel like there is a need to draft a Will, but they want to 
designate someone who is not the surviving bio parent to be the guardian 
upon their death?

A bio parent who hasn't has their rights terminated has a constitutional 
right to the care and custody of their child. So, according to 
Washington law, upon the death of one parent, the surviving parent is 
the natural custodian of a minor child.  That of course, can be 
challenged by a third party but the third party would have to show some 
unfitness, etc. on the part of the bio parent, and some compelling 
reason for themselves as a non-bio to prevail.

Even if a guardian of the person is named in a Will, that nomination is 
not binding on the court. The court still goes back to the same law- the 
constitutional right of the bio parent to care for their child, and then 
the same burden that is set out in the guardianship statute. That said, 
in cases where there have been absolutely horrible years long custody 
battles with a truly bad parent, I have nominated a guardian for my 
client's child.  I warn my client that it's not binding and that the 
court will just give it whatever weight it wants. The court must still 
follow the law. But, the court at least knows the druthers of the 
deceased primary parent.

If your client wants to make their druthers known, it doesn't have to 
take any particular form. It's just their non binding wish.

I had a client a couple years ago that made an audio recording, 
literally, on his deathbed. He asked that the aunt care for his adult 
disabled child for whom he had Guardianship.  The aunt (now my new 
client) petitioned to be successor guardian and the bio Mom objected.  
It was a fairly contested guardianship but my client (the aunt) 
eventually prevailed. We used my deceased clients death bed recording, 
plus supporting facts regarding the aunt's long standing support for the 
disabled adult child. The bio Mom was fairly flawed. We had removed her 
as Guardian a couple years prior due to fraud and other things. I don't 
know how much weight the court gave to the recording but I was glad to 
have it as one piece of evidence to support the aunt's claim.

Andrekita Silva
Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva
1325 Fourth Avenue, Suite 940
Seattle, Washington 98101-2509
206-224-8288
ak at seattle-silvalaw.com

On 2026/06/25 02:08 PM, Lynn Clare wrote:

> All
> 
> Has anyone ever done a guardianship designation for minor children
> that was not contained in a will who would be willing to share the
> form they used?
> 
> Lynn Clare
> Clare Law Firm, PLLC
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