By Joseph J. Kenneff, Lancaster, PA attorney

If you have young children in Lancaster County, the most important line in your will may not be about money. It is the line that names who would raise your kids if you and the other parent were gone. Pennsylvania law lets a parent put that choice in writing. Here is how the rule works, what it does and does not do, and how families in Lancaster, PA usually approach it.

Two different jobs: guardian and trustee

A will for parents usually answers two separate questions. You can name the same person for both jobs, or different people.

• Guardian is the adult who has day-to-day custody: home, school, medical care and the ordinary decisions of raising a child. Pennsylvania's testamentary guardian statute, 20 Pa.C.S. § 2519(a), is the rule that lets a sole surviving parent put that nomination in a will.
• Trustee is the adult who manages money left for the children. In the practice I use, the will leaves the children's share in a testamentary trust and names a trustee to manage that money until a chosen age, rather than handing a lump sum to a minor outright.

The relative who would be a wonderful parent is not always the relative who should handle bank accounts, life insurance proceeds or a house. Splitting the roles is common and allowed. Pennsylvania law also lets a will name a "guardian of the estate" under § 2519(b), but a trust with a trustee usually gives more flexibility and avoids a court-supervised guardianship of the estate.

Who can nominate a guardian

Under § 2519(a), only a sole surviving parent (or sole adopting parent) of an unmarried minor child may appoint a testamentary guardian of the person. If the child's other parent is still living and fit, that parent keeps custody. Your will does not hand the children to someone else over a living, fit parent.

That is why matching wills matter when both parents die in the same accident, or when one parent has already died. Both parents should name the same first-choice guardian and the same backups. If the two wills name different people, you have built a fight into the plan.

A parent who, for a year or more before death, willfully neglected or refused to provide for the child, deserted the child, or willfully failed to perform parental duties loses the right to appoint a guardian of the person under § 2519(a).

Naming a trustee for the children's money

Any parent can leave a child's inheritance in a testamentary trust and name a trustee to manage it. The trust can hold what the child would otherwise receive from the will, and it can be coordinated with life insurance and other death benefits so those proceeds feed the same plan. The trustee invests and spends for the child's needs under the terms you write, then distributes what remains at the age you choose. That approach works even if you are not the child's sole surviving parent, because you are deciding how your own gifts are held, not who has custody of the child.

The court still has a role

A guardian nomination in a will is a strong statement of your wishes. It is not a self-executing court order. In Lancaster County, questions about the care of a minor are handled in the Orphans' Court Division of the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas. Schools, doctors and banks often want court papers before they treat someone as the child's legal guardian. Practically, families usually petition to have the nomination confirmed so the guardian has clear authority.

The governing standard is the child's best interest. Courts give real weight to a fit parent's considered choice, especially when the will is clear and the nominee is willing and suitable. Name at least one alternate guardian, and at least one alternate trustee, because your first choice for either job may be unable or unwilling to serve when the time comes.

How this fits with the rest of your Lancaster County plan

A guardian nomination and a children's trust belong in a properly signed Pennsylvania will. They do not replace life insurance, beneficiary designations or a plan for how inheritance tax will be paid. Property that still sits in your own name at death may need to be opened at the Lancaster County Register of Wills as part of estate administration. For parents, the will is often the document that answers the question everyone cares about first: who raises the kids.

Think through practical points with your attorney: whether the guardian lives nearby (Millersville, Lancaster city or another township), whether that person can take on more children, whether the trustee should be a different person, and how money for the children will actually reach the trustee without creating needless conflict.

Talk with a Lancaster, PA estate planning attorney

At Goodman & Kenneff, I help parents in Millersville and across Lancaster County write wills that name guardians carefully, put children's shares in trust, and fit with the rest of the plan. To talk about your situation, call our office at (717) 872-4605 or book a consultation. You can also read more about our wills and estate planning practice.

This article is general information about Pennsylvania law, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every family is different, so please consult an attorney about your situation.