Parental responsibility

Any father of a child born before 1st December 2003 who is not married to the child’s mother does not automatically have parental responsibility for that child. This means that if the mother dies first, social services could become involved to formally appoint a guardian who may or may not be the child’s father (especially if there are applications made by the mothers side of the family for guardianship). This can all be avoided simply by the child’s mother making a Will appointing the child’s father as guardian.

Children’s Trusts

If the unthinkable happens while your children are still minors you want to be sure that they will be looked after in the way in which you would want.