Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Re: death and child care

Wills are the legal mechanism by which you demonstrate what you want to happen to your property.

Your children are not property, they are people. Think about it. You can't will them as if they were a desk or something.

If you are divorced and there is a parenting plan that provides you are the primary residential parent and the other parent has visitation, then once you are gone, there is no further parenting plan, and so the other parent steps in -

Barring Other Circumstances. But third parties (your parents) have no rights to your children if their father is a fit parent. If he is not a fit parent then your parents can petition for third party custody if you were gone.

OK, here is how it is really done. In your will, you set up a trust. You say, "I leave my entire estate and remainder in trust to my children. I name (your parents) as the trustee, to manage and oversee your estate as they best see fit for the benefit of (your) child until they reach the age of (you can pick an age, 25 seems a lot safer than 18) XX, at which time the trust corpus shall become the property of child and the trust shall be of no further effect.

If you earn SS income, your child will also recieve a payment meant to compensate for your loss of support.

So, it can be done, it's just a little more complicated than you thought.

Hope this helps. Powell