Sorting Out a Guardian: Happy Birthday Harry Potter!
July 29, 2023
By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi
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| Image by M. Gustafson Gervasi, 2023 |
The weekend is nearly here. For my home it is not just any old summer weekend, it is a threshold weekend. My youngest child will turn 13, marking a time when we leave behind the little kid and tween years. Tucked away on the shelves in our basement are Spot It game cards, stuffies adopted on our travels, and her Harry Potter books. Potterheads (the term for diehard fans of Harry Potter) will be quick to tell you that Harry celebrates his birthday this time of year, specificially July 31st. The boy wizzard at the center of the seven book series (and movies) is an orphan; just about every protagonist is an orphan in children's literature.
An estimated 153 million children in the world are orphans, according to SOS Children's Villages. A will is the one legal way a parent can nominate another person to become the guardian of a child if the child were orphaned. As a parent I know no parent wants to linger on this potential scenario, yet it can and does happen. With a will the parent can control who the court will consider as a guardian. No one person will be perfect, but from my 18 years of practicing law and nearly as many parenting, here are a few points to consider when sorting out the right person(s) to name:
- Religion -- who in your life shares your views on religion?
- Education - who in your life approaches education in a similar manner?
- Finances - who in your life spends (or saves) money in a manner close to yours?
- Travel - who in your life travels as you do?
- Capacity -- who in your life has the capacity to home their home and heart to a child who has sufferred the terrible loss of a parent(s)?
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