Here are some of the questions to think about for any person you are considering having serve in the role of caring for your child after you pass. 

Remember:  The perfect guardian may not exist. Don’t let that stop you from choosing the best of your options!

1. Does this person have experience in raising or caring for children?

2. Does this person share your core values about life? Would he or she model these for your child?

3. Does this person share your philosophy about parenting? Does he or she take a similar approach to discipline? 

4. Does this person share your cultural and religious background so that he or she can carry on important traditions with your child?

5. Does this person have the emotional resources to take on the responsibility of raising your children? 

6. Is this person easily affectionate? Would he or she deal well with a child who is experiencing grief?

7. Is this person young and/or healthy enough that he or she would be physically up to raising a child until your child reaches 18?

8. Does your child have an emotional relationship with this person to help your child to make this transition?

9. Does this person live near you so that your child could remain in the same school and/or maintain contacts with friends?

10. Does this person have ties to both sides of the family so that the child would have regular contact with extended family on both sides?

11. Would your child support your choice? Would this selection create conflict for your families?

12. Is this person in a stable relationship that would provide your child with a two-parent home?

13. If this person is currently closer to one child than the other, can he or she avoid playing favorites?

14. Will this person be able to afford to care for your children with the resources you can leave to care for them?

Choosing a guardian for your child is not always easy.  However, planning ahead thoughtfully can save a lot of time and heartache in the case of an unexpected loss.  

Want additional information about creating a plan for your family?  Phinney Estate Law offers free community classes.  We've love to speak to your group or organization.  Click here to learn more.  

Phinney Estate Law Attorney Jamie Clausen will be teaching a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) class on the topic "Collaborative Law 101" today, October 8, 2014, for the King County Bar Association Solo Small Firm Section.  The CLE is scheduled from noon to 1 pm at the King County Bar Association offices at 1200 5th Ave, Suite 700 Seattle, WA 98101.  The CLE is open and free for all members of the King County Bar Association.  For more information contact the KCBA at (206) 267-7100.   

Wondering what the Supreme Court decision not to take up the marriage equality means?  The short answer is progress and continued confusion.  

The Supreme court was expected this session to take up and rule on challenges to lower court ruling that found state laws that didn't grant marriage equality were unconstitutional.  These rulings rested on a variety of grounds varying from the right of privacy to the best interest of children.  By deciding not to take up the issue, the Supreme Court leaves those ruling intake and spread marriage equality. 

The decision not to make a decision immediately effects five states in which federal appeals courts had already struck now bans on same sex marriage: Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and Utah.  In the case of Virginia, marriage certificates are being issued now.  In other states it may take up to 30 days for the process to start.

Eventually it will also bring along North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming as those states are in the same federal circuits.  That means that as soon as someone files suit in those states challenging those state's bans on same sex marriage the courts will be bound by precedent to overturn those bans.  Those suits are expected to be filed within days and be could be decided in the next few months.  That means by that within a year we can expect same sex marriage to be legal in at least 30 states. 

That still leaves 20 states without marriage equality.  Such a patchwork approach leaves many gaps for same sex married couples with regard to rights to custody and the right to divorce as they move from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.  Which is why we still encourage all same sex couples to complete a co-habitation agreement and follow up with step parent adoptions to make their rights portable even if they are legally married.  

It also means that there are now a large number of states were same sex couples are free to marry but are not protected by anti-discrimination statutes so they can still be fired or denied housing or other rights crucial to actually protecting the rights of their families.  

Most Court watchers thought that the Supreme Court would be either granting same sex marriage nationwide or endorsing bans that set the movement back.  Instead it seemingly endorsed the slow patchwork movement toward progress.  As MLK Jr said "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."  We are now eleven states closer.

If you have questions about how to best protect the rights of your family, please contact for a free consult on estate planning, relationship agreements, step parent, or adult adoption at [email protected] or (206) 459-1908.  

For a helpful map of the impact of today's decision see this helpful map.