Have you appointed a guardian for your child?
If you’re a parent of a child, it can be difficult to talk about what would happen to your children if you and your partner die. However, if you and your partner pass away while your children are aged under 18, someone else will have to look after and raise them. As a parent, you have the power to appoint that person, known as a ‘guardian’. This article explains who is eligible to become a guardian, whether they automatically manage your child’s inheritance and other topics.
What is guardianship?
If someone other than a child’s parents becomes responsible for a child, this person is known as the child’s ‘guardian’. A child may have a guardian if both of their parents die or if their parents are temporarily unable to assume parental responsibility. This article assumes that both parents have passed away.
What happens if you don’t make formal arrangements?
If you haven’t appointed a guardian, the courts will step in. Although the Netherlands has a reliable and professional court system, many people prefer to take control and appoint their children’s guardian themselves.
How do you appoint a guardian?
You can appoint a guardian in your will. A notary can make a formal record of your will and the guardian’s appointment. If you’re going to write a will in the near future and have children aged under 18, this is a good moment to appoint a guardian.
Have you heard of the parental responsibility register?
If you already have a will in place and/or don’t want to have a formal agreement recorded by a notary, you can use the parental responsibility register. To do so, you must complete the form on Rechtspraak.nl. Appointing a guardian in the register is free of charge, and you don’t need to contact a notary. The drawback of appointing a guardian in the register is that you can’t add any wishes for your children’s upbringing or care. You also won’t be able to appoint a guardian for your future children. These are things that you can set out in a will if you wish.
As parents, you can jointly register who will be responsible for your child if you both die. You can appoint more than one person as a guardian. If you don’t agree on who the guardian should be, you can both appoint a guardian separately. If you want these people to take care of your children as joint guardians rather than successive guardians, you can state this preference on the form. Joint guardianship means the guardians mutually care for and raise your children. The guardians will then pay the costs of raising the children. This is in contrast to a successive guardian, who doesn’t bear the costs.
Should you appoint a guardian in your will and the parental responsibility register?
Appointing different guardians in your will and the parental responsibility register can lead to confusion. To avoid this, the law states that the last appointed guardian – whether in your will or in the register – will become your child’s guardian.
Who should you appoint as a guardian?
As a parent, you have the power to appoint a guardian. But how do you know who is a suitable guardian?
- The bond between a child and their guardian is important, as are the guardian’s family circumstances.
- If you haven’t appointed a separate administrator for your child, you should assess the guardian’s financial literacy.
- Another aspect to consider is the guardian’s values and whether they’re generally aligned with your values as parents.
A peaceful, stable setting is important for creating a strong bond between a child and their guardian. There are also some formal requirements for guardians:
- The guardian must be a person, not an institution. The court may appoint an institution. If it does, this institution must be certified.
- The guardian you intend to appoint must not suffer from mental illness or be under guardianship for adults.
- The guardian you intend to appoint must be older than 18.
- The guardian you intend to appoint must consent to their appointment as a guardian.
Guardianship and administration
Your appointed guardian will automatically become the administrator of your child’s assets. Once your child is 18 years of age, the guardian ceases to be their administrator. If you want the guardian to act as administrator for longer, you can appoint an administrator in your will and state the length of their appointment (e.g. until your child is 25 years of age).
A person can be a guardian and administrator at the same time. However, some parents decide to appoint two different people, as not everyone makes a good guardian and administrator. One benefit of appointing two different people is that it avoids a potentially harmful financial element in the relationship between the guardian and child.
In summary
In an ideal world, you should be able to live to raise your children until they’re grown up. Appointing a guardian for your children should be seen as a form of insurance you should never have to take out. However, it can provide peace of mind knowing that your children will be looked after if something happens to you.
