Estate Planning for New Parents in Evanston: Guardianship and Beyond

In Illinois, you cannot appoint a guardian for your child yourself. Under the Illinois Probate Act you designate one in writing — usually your will — and a court appoints that person after you die. Estate planning for new parents means making that designation, plus deciding who manages your child’s money.

Key Takeaways

• Illinois parents designate a guardian in writing; a court makes the appointment.
• The designation needs two witnesses aged 18 or older, neither being the guardian.
• A court-appointed standby guardian can act for up to 60 days.
• A short-term guardian form works without court and lasts 365 days.
• Minors cannot manage inherited property, so plans often use a trust.

Most parents think about this for the first time at 2 a.m., with a newborn asleep on their chest. It sits there until you write something down. Illinois gives you three separate tools, and they work differently.

Who decides who raises my child if I die without a will in Illinois? 

An Illinois court decides. Under 755 ILCS 5/11-5(a), the court may appoint a guardian of the person, the estate, or both, as the court finds to be in the best interest of the minor.

There are two roles in that sentence. A guardian of the person raises your child: school, doctors, bedtime. A guardian of the estate manages the child’s property. One person can hold both jobs, though plenty of families split them.

If you leave nothing in writing, a judge still decides, without any statement from you, while the people who love your child disagree about what you wanted.

Guardianship is a separate question from where your property goes. For the inheritance side, what Illinois law does when there is no will covers distribution.

How to name a guardian for minor children in Illinois 

You make a designation, in writing. Under 755 ILCS 5/11-5(a-1), an Illinois parent whose parental rights have not been terminated may designate, in any writing including a will, a person to be appointed guardian of the person or estate of an unmarried minor or a child likely to be born.

That language covers a child who has not been born yet, so expectant parents can handle it now.

The formalities matter as much as the name. The designation must be witnessed by 2 or more credible witnesses at least 18 years of age, neither of whom is the designated guardian; attested like a will, it has prima facie validity. So if you name your sister and she also signs as a witness, you have a problem nobody discovers until it matters.

Primary and backup guardian

Name a first choice. Then name a second.

People move to Arizona. Marriages end. The couple who were the obvious answer at your baby shower may be wrong in nine years. A backup costs one extra line and spares your family from starting over with no guidance from you. Talk to both of them first. A guardian designation should never be a surprise.

The letter to your guardian (non-binding)

Your documents name a person. Nothing in them explains your child.

Write a separate letter and keep it with your plan. Put in what a court filing never captures: how your daughter falls asleep, which cousin she should keep seeing, what you hope she does about college. It has no legal force. It gives the person raising your child the context they would otherwise guess at.

The standby guardian: the Illinois option most new parents miss 

Illinois has a second tool for the gap between the day something happens and the day a court can hold a hearing.

Under 755 ILCS 5/11-5.3, a parent may designate a standby guardian in any writing including a will, but signing the designation does not appoint that person — a petition must be filed in and approved by the court. So the signature starts the process. Someone still has to finish it in court.

Once the court has appointed a standby guardian, the designation carries real weight. Under 755 ILCS 5/11-5(b-1), if a standby guardian was previously appointed under Section 11-5.3, the court shall appoint that standby guardian unless it finds, upon good cause shown, that the appointment would no longer be in the minor’s best interest.

The reason to bother shows up in the first weeks. Under 755 ILCS 5/11-13.1, once a court-appointed standby guardian of the person learns of the parent’s death, consent, or inability to make day-to-day child care decisions, that guardian may act without direction of court for up to 60 days, and must file a guardianship petition within those 60 days.

During those 60 days somebody has clear authority to enroll your child in school while the paperwork catches up.

Short-term guardian: the form that works without a court 

This is the fastest tool Illinois gives a parent, and almost nobody uses it.

Under 755 ILCS 5/11-5.4, an Illinois parent may appoint a short-term guardian in writing without court approval. It takes effect immediately on execution unless a later date or event is specified, lasts 365 days unless the instrument says otherwise, and only one may be in force at a time. It must be signed before at least 2 credible witnesses aged 18 or older, neither of whom is the short-term guardian, who must also sign.

There is no hearing, nothing to file, and the coverage runs a full year.

Parents go unavailable for ordinary reasons: surgery with a hard recovery, a deployment, three weeks overseas for work. A short-term guardian gives whoever is actually caring for your child the standing to act like it.

If you are not sure which of these three tools your family needs, that is what a first meeting answers.

Should I leave money directly to my children?

Usually not, and Illinois law explains why. Under 755 ILCS 5/11-1, “minor” means a person who has not attained the age of 18 years. A child under 18 cannot sign a lease or manage an investment account. Somebody has to hold the money and spend it for them.

Picture a young family in Evanston with a two-flat near the lake and a term life policy. If it all lands in a child’s name with no structure around it, nobody has clean authority to spend it on tuition or the mortgage. A trust fixes that by putting an adult you chose in charge of the money for as long as your plan says.

Naming a trustee who isn’t the guardian

The person you trust to raise your child and the person you trust with a brokerage statement are frequently two different people. Splitting the roles puts each job with someone good at it, and two adults end up watching the money.

One caution: pick people who can sit in the same room. A guardian and a trustee who cannot speak civilly will spend your child’s money arguing. If the distinction is still fuzzy, how trustee and executor duties differ breaks down the money roles side by side.

Life insurance and beneficiary designations new parents get wrong 

Your will does not control your life insurance. Neither does your trust, unless you point the policy at it.

Life insurance and retirement accounts pass by the beneficiary form you filled out, sometimes years ago, sometimes at a job you have already left. New parents write a careful plan and then leave a policy naming a parent or an ex-partner.

Pull every beneficiary form and read what it says. Re-check them after a birth, a marriage, a divorce, or a new job. Naming a minor child directly hits the same wall: a child under 18 cannot receive and manage the proceeds alone.

The 30-minute version: a minimum plan for Evanston parents 

If you do nothing else this month, do this.

1. Choose a primary guardian and a backup, and ask them both.
2. Put the designation in writing, witnessed by two qualified adults who are not the guardian.
3. Decide whether a court-appointed standby guardian fits your family.
4. Sign a short-term guardian appointment for the ordinary gaps.
5. Choose who manages the money, and whether that is the same person.
6. Pull and correct every beneficiary form.
7. Write the non-binding letter to your guardian.
8. Store it all somewhere your guardian can actually reach it.

Most parents in Evanston and Cook County get through these decisions in one sitting. The paperwork is the easy half. An Evanston estate planning attorney turns your answers into signed documents.

Estate planning for new parents: frequently asked questions