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<div class="pre" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; font-family: monospace">Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva<br />______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ <br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">December 1, 2025</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Marcus,</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Last year, I represented an Aunt in a case where the father, who was the guardian of his adult dependent child, died with only an unenforceable oral will (he recorded his wishes hours before his death.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The bio mother contested as she wanted guardianship. We had to go through a contested proceeding.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Generally, the court isn't bound by a parent's wishes about who should be the guardian of their minor/ dependent child upon their death. A bio parent has a constitutional right to the care/ custody of their child on the death of the other. The court will make balance a parent's constitutional right against the child's best interest when making a decision As between a bio parent and a third party, the bio parent would have to be pretty unfit. If it's between non bio parent third parties, the court would give considerable weight to the dying parents wishes - assuming their selected guardian were reasonably fit and qualified- and assuming it's not an older child who is mature enough to express their reasonably well-reasoned wishes. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Andrekita Silva</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">1325 Fourth Avenue, Suite 940</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Seattle, Washington 98101-2509</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">206-224-8288</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="mailto:ak@seattle-silvalaw.com">ak@seattle-silvalaw.com</a></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">On 2025/11/25 16:16, Marcus Fry wrote:</span>
<blockquote type="cite" style="padding: 0 0.4em; border-left: #1010ff 2px solid; margin: 0"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyone recently dealt with appointment of a guardian of decedents'</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">minor child nominated under decedents' will? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> [<a href="https://hawleytroxell.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1</a>] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">MARCUS J. FRY </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">PARTNER </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">NEW ADDRESS: 1433 Lakeside Ct., Ste #100, Yakima, WA. 98902 </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">P: 509.248.7220</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">F: 509.213.8735 </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">E: <a href="mailto:mfry@hawleytroxell.com">mfry@hawleytroxell.com</a> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">hawleytroxell.com [<a href="https://hawleytroxell.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1</a>] </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> [<a href="https://twitter.com/hawleytroxell" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2</a>] [<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/hawley-troxell/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">3</a>] [<a href="https://www.facebook.com/HawleyTroxell" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">4</a>] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> [<a href="https://www.lexmundi.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">5</a>] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">This e-mail message from the law firm of Hawley Troxell Ennis &</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Hawley, LLP is intended only for named recipients. 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