<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /></head><body style='font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif'>
<div class="pre" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; font-family: monospace">Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva<br />______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ <br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">June 25, 2026</span></div>
<div class="pre" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; font-family: monospace"> </div>
<div class="pre" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; font-family: monospace"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Lynn,</span></div>
<div class="pre" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; font-family: monospace"> </div>
<div class="pre" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; font-family: monospace"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">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. </span></div>
<div class="pre" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; font-family: monospace"> </div>
<div class="pre" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; font-family: monospace"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">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?</span></div>
<div class="pre" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; font-family: monospace"> </div>
<div class="pre" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; font-family: monospace"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">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. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">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.</span></div>
<div class="pre" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; font-family: monospace"> </div>
<div class="pre" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; font-family: monospace"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">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.</span></div>
<div class="pre" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; font-family: monospace"> </div>
<div class="pre" style="margin: 0; padding: 0; font-family: monospace"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">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.</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 /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">On 2026/06/25 02:08 PM, Lynn Clare 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;">All</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Has anyone ever done a guardianship designation for minor children</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">that was not contained in a will who would be willing to share the</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">form they used?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Lynn Clare</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Clare Law Firm, PLLC</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">***Disclaimer: Please note that RPPT listserv participation is not restricted to practicing attorneys and may include non-practicing attorneys, law students, professionals working in related fields, and others.***</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">_______________________________________________</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">WSBAPT mailing list</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="mailto:WSBAPT@lists.wsbarppt.com">WSBAPT@lists.wsbarppt.com</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://mailman.fsr.com/mailman/listinfo/wsbapt" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://mailman.fsr.com/mailman/listinfo/wsbapt</a></span></blockquote>
</div>
</body></html>