Naming Godparents Does Not Create Legal Guardians

As a parent, your top priority is the well-being and future of your children. You plan for their education, health, and happiness, and often this planning includes the tradition of choosing godparents to guide and mentor your children if something happens to you.

While selecting godparents is a meaningful tradition in many cultures, it's important to understand that naming a godparent is not the same thing as naming a legal guardian for your children.

To put it bluntly, even if you have named godparents, if something happens to you, your children could end up in the care of strangers or in the long-term care of someone you would never want raising your children.

We’ll explain the difference in roles of a godparent and legal guardian and how to ensure your kids are always cared for by the people you choose - no matter what.

A godparent is traditionally someone you name to watch over your child and help them live according to your morals and values. Godparents are meant to be mentors and role models, guiding your child in matters of faith, morality, and character. The role of a godparent is deeply rooted in religious and cultural traditions, and they often participate in religious ceremonies such as baptisms or confirmations.

Whether your family is religious or not, godparents may also play a supportive role in your child's life by offering emotional support, advice, and friendship. They can be someone your child can turn to for guidance and a listening ear, but their responsibilities are largely informal and non-legal.

In contrast, naming a legal guardian for your child is a formal, legal process. A legal guardian is someone who has the legal authority to make decisions on behalf of your child, especially if you, as the parent, are unable to do so. This could occur due to your passing, incapacity, or any situation in which you cannot provide care or make important legal, financial, healthcare or education decisions for your child.

The responsibilities of a legal guardian encompass every area of your child's life that you would normally manage as a parent. This includes everything from feeding and clothing your child to deciding where they go to school, attending parent-teacher meetings and which extracurricular activities they participate in. Legal guardianship also includes the decisions about where your child lives and what medical treatment they should or should not receive.

A legal guardian may also help manage your child's financial assets and resources, ensuring their financial well-being. In some cases, if you’ve planned ahead, you may choose to have a different person act as a financial Trustee of the assets you leave for your child, and your chosen Trustee will work alongside the legal guardian to ensure your child is financially supported. In some cases, your guardian and Trustee may be the same person. This is a decision we can help you make based on the specifics of your family dynamics.

While godparents may be deeply caring and involved in your child's life, they have no legal authority to make decisions for your child unless they are officially appointed as a legal guardian by the court. That means that until that happens, (if it happens) your child’s godparents are not legally able to make any decisions for your children, including their basic care needs, education, and medical care. 

If you become incapacitated or die, and have not legally nominated a guardian (and, ideally, more than one) there could be a complex and expensive custody dispute among your family members, who may assume you would want your children to live under their care rather than the people you named as godparents. This is especially likely if the people you’ve named as godparents are not related to you by blood or marriage. 

Without a legal guardian designation in writing and signed with the formalities of a Will, godparents may find themselves in an expensive court battle over custody rights, and they may not even be named as the legal guardians of your children at all. 

While godparents may be deeply caring and involved in your child's life, they have no legal authority to make decisions for your child unless they are officially appointed as a legal guardian by the court. That means that until that happens, (if it happens) your child’s godparents are not legally able to make any decisions for your children, including their basic care needs, education, and medical care. 

If you become incapacitated or die, and have not legally nominated a guardian (and, ideally, more than one) there could be a complex and expensive custody dispute among your family members, who may assume you would want your children to live under their care rather than the people you named as godparents. This is especially likely if the people you’ve named as godparents are not related to you by blood or marriage. 

Without a legal guardian designation in writing and signed with the formalities of a Will, godparents may find themselves in an expensive court battle over custody rights, and they may not even be named as the legal guardians of your children at all.