As part of your estate planning, it's very important that you name a guardian for your children (if they're under 18) in your will. A guardian will take over your parenting role after your death until your child reaches age 18. If you don't name a guardian, the probate court will name a guardian for your children.

We recommend choosing a relative or close friend as a guardian. If your child is older, you might want to get his or her input on whom they would want (or not want). However you make your choice, be sure to list an alternate guardian in case your first choice isn't available.

Here are 4 key questions to ask yourself when considering potential guardians:

1. Does this person currently have a good relationship with your child?
2. Do you share the same ethics and values?
3. Are you comfortable with this person's personality and how they handle stress?
4. Is this person financially stable? Your guardian will get reimbursed for all reasonable costs of maintaining and educating your child. But make sure that it won't cause a financial hardship for this person to raise your child.

Last but not least, no matter how close you are to your intended guardian, we think it's important to put feelers out to make sure that you share important ideas about child rearing.

Choosing a guardian is just one step in estate planning. For more information, click here to read The Best Way to Draft Your Will.