If you died, would you leave your children to a high shcool dropout, and a clown?

I'm sure the answer is a resounding, "NO!"

But do you know who would? Danny Tanner would.

For the uninitiated, Danny Tanner was a single father from the 90's TV series, Full House; the original Modern Family. In the show, Danny raises his three daughters mainly with the help of his late wife's brother, and his childhood friend; the dropout and clown, respectively. While I poke fun at their social status, they are by all accounts great for the girls, and de facto parents.

So, imagine Danny dies without a will. The girls would be left without a guardian. The likely result would be that several people would petition the court for guardianship. Anybody who has seen the show could tell you that Danny would want his two buddies to continue watching over the girls, but let's see who else might get into the mix.

Danny's mother, aka Everybody Loves Raymond's mother. Is it really in the girl's best interest to be raised by an elderly woman? What happens when her health starts to fail her while the girls are still minors? Whats more, is that (according to the Full House wiki) Claire Tanner did not have confidence in Danny's ability to raise the children. Plus, she only made 3 appearances in 8 seasons of the show. Is this what Danny would have wanted?

Then we have Danny's sister, Aunt Wendy. Here is another choice that makes sense on its face, but upon further analysis is probably a bad idea. First of all, Wendy is quite the traveler. She collects things from all over the world in her career as a zoologist. All this traveling could lead to absentee parenting, or uprooting the children. Second of all, one of the things that she collected in her travels was a chimpanzee. Wild animals generally don't make good pets. Just take a look at this Connecticut case. (Warning: Not for the faint of heart!) Aunt Wendy is certainly a questionable choice for a guardian.

A court may look at this and see three young girls, and a choice between, the grandmother, the aunt, and two guys with no blood relation as guardians. It's not a stretch to see this going opposite what to Danny Tanner's wishes actually are. This is why a will is so important for parents with young children. You want your wishes to be known, and once you are gone, it is too late.

Who is the person that you want to leave your kids to? Do you think the court would know? Does that person even know? What other directives do you want to leave regarding how your children should be raised? Have you considered an alternate? Am I ever going to stop asking these questions?

There are plenty of options for end of life planning. The thing is, that we don't know when the end of life is going to hit us. If you are going on a trip with your spouse, if you are making significant life changes, if you are up at night pondering the "what-if's," a conversation with your loved ones, and an attorney, is a great start towards peace of mind.