The role of Guardian – Parental Responsibility
It is only possible to appoint a guardian to those children which the law regards you as having "parental responsibility" for. 

To be able to make an appointment you must be one of the following:
* Either the mother or father of a child who were married to each other at the time of the child's birth* the child's mother whether or not she was married to the father at the time of the child's birth* the father of the child if he marries the natural mother* the father of a child, born since December 2003, who was not married to the mother at the time of the child's birth but is named on the birth certificate* the father of a child who was not married to the mother at the time of the child's birth but who has been given parental responsibility by a valid parental responsibility agreement entered into with the child's mother* a person granted parental responsibility by a court* a properly appointed guardian.

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By making a guardian appointment you cannot take away the rights of a person,

surviving you, who also has parental responsibility for any child of yours

Parental responsibility - It is extremely rare for the court to remove parental responsibility from a parent. The only way to remove parental responsibility is through an application to the court and these applications are only successful in exceptional circumstances. A mother of a child can only lose parental responsibility for her child if the child is adopted. Fathers also have significant rights when it comes to their parental responsibilities. The success of an application to remove parental responsibility from a father will partly depend on how the father gained parental responsibility in the first place.

 

The court will not remove parental responsibility from a father just because: *he has moved away or doesn't see his child on a regular basis *he has separated from the child's mother *he isn’t paying child support *he has committed a criminal offence, unless the type of offence committed could pose serious risk to a mother and child. A father’s parental responsibility would only ever be removed in exceptional circumstances, providing the judge thinks it's in the child’s best interests.

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The above is shown as some clients looking to provide a Guardian appointment in their Will may not be aware of the courts view on appointing anyone other than the person(s) with Parental responsibility. On 2nd death scenarios it is of course practical to appoint the person(s) you both would have wanted to act as your child(s) Guardian.

 

Expression of Wishes can also be a useful form to compliment your Will, as this can show your thoughts regarding the child(s) upbringing, education and any religious beliefs on your death etc.