What happens to your children when you cannot care for them?

Most parents think about their children's safety, health and education every day. Far fewer have planned for the hardest question: who would look after them if you could not - whether through incapacity, or if you died while they were under 18?

Name guardians in your Will

Naming guardians is arguably the most important part of writing a Will for any parent. Without named guardians, no relative - not even a grandparent - has an automatic right to step in. The Local Authority is obliged to become involved, and decisions around your child's care and finances could sit with them until the child turns 18, even where a relative has assumed day-to-day care. In the worst cases, children can be placed into local authority care, including emergency foster placements with strangers, while the family courts decide - a process that can take months, at exactly the moment children most need stability.In the worst cases, children can be placed into temporary Local Authority care while the family courts decide - a process that can take months, at exactly the moment children most need stability - and the person ultimately given parental responsibility may hold parenting values quite different from yours.

Provide for the guardians, not just the children

Naming a guardian is only half the job. Raising a child is expensive, and state support for those looking after bereaved children is minimal: Guardian's Allowance is just £22.95 a week (rate from April 2026, up from £22.10). A well-built plan provides financial support alongside the appointment - which is where a Trust earns its place.

Use a Trust for flexibility

A Trust can pay an appropriate allowance to guardians as it is needed, rather than handing over a lump sum and hoping it is spent well. It can also protect the inheritance itself: from a surviving partner's remarriage, from a child's future divorce, and from double taxation as wealth passes down. The default arrangements that apply without planning are rarely what parents would choose.

Check your LPAs too

Incapacity raises the same questions as death, and is covered by neither a Will nor good intentions. A Health and Welfare LPA and a Property and Financial Affairs LPA complete the picture.

Key takeaways

• No named guardians means the Local Authority decides
• Financial support for guardians should be planned, not assumed
• A Trust gives flexibility and protection a bare gift cannot

Our STEP-qualified estate planners cover guardianship, Trusts and LPAs in every plan. Book a complimentary, no-obligation consultation.