Daddy Brad: Drafting a will. It's something that all responsible parents should do.
Daddy Clay: Come right back and we'll reveal which of the two of us is a responsible and good father and which one is a slacking, irresponsible, illiterate hayseed from South Carolina.

Daddy Brad: This episode is brought to you by BabyBjorn. You know Daddy Clay, if you're sporting your brand new baby in a BabyBjorn Baby Carrier active, it's like a billboard to the world that says, "I'm a good parent."

Daddy Clay: Yeah, but not quite good enough to have filled out a will, I take it.

Daddy Brad: Well no, but I see that you've brought yours here to flaunt and show everybody that you're a good, good responsible parent.
Daddy Clay: My will, filled out in 2005. So who's the good daddy now?
Daddy Brad: You have an attorney draw that up?
Daddy Clay: No, just went to LegalZoom.com. Very simple, cheap, just printed it out, filled it out, boom.
Daddy Brad: And it's legal?
Daddy Clay: It would be.
Daddy Brad: Would be?
Daddy Clay: It would be if my wife and I both signed it in front of a notary public, yes.
Daddy Brad: So it's been sitting on your desk for 5 years?
Daddy Clay: Roughly 5 years.
Daddy Brad: That's responsible.
Daddy Clay: So in order to get us both motivated to do the right and legal thing for our families, we brought in a state attorney and expert, Julia Benkoski.
Julia: It is extremely important for a family to have a will because a will is the instrument that allows people to transfer title when they pass away. But in a will, it is imperative that you have a clause in there that provides for guardianship terms for your minor children so that there's no guesswork when you pass away. And if there's no guardianship provision for your children, then it's going to be next of kin. Typically it would be a grandparent and again, the state could get involved. A will is a written document that is signed by the testator and that is witnessed by two witnesses or more and signed before a notary. That is a self proved will. A living will, what we call in the legal world is a medical power of attorney and directive to physicians. It's highly advisable that you hire an attorney. If you have a will that you got off the Internet, for example, and you use that, you get a self help kit that you bought at some office store, if it doesn't have specific guidelines, terminology, words, languages, then it's very likely that a judge is going to request more legal documentation, more witnesses. You can call your state bar association. You may call your local bar associations. You can call referral services. Certainly, you can Google.
Daddy Brad: So bottom line, you want to keep your estate out of probate court. But it's really not about stuff.
Daddy Clay: No, definitely not, because I've seen your stuff.
Daddy Brad: It's about who has guardianship of your kids.
Daddy Clay: You know I saw a statistic from Unicef the other day that really highlighted this issue. They said that in 2007 in this country alone, there were 2.8 million orphans under the age of 17.
Daddy Brad: Wow, that's a good motivator to go ahead and get that will done.
Daddy Clay: That doesn't mean it's gonna be an easy conversation. This can be really a source of conflict for couples I think.
Daddy Brad: Yeah, I can see mom saying, "Oh, we gotta have Aunt Jenny to be the guardian." And the dad's like, "No way, Aunt Jenny's a freak. It's gotta be Uncle Bill." And then what do you do, arm wrestle? Flip a coin. You're stuck.
Daddy Clay: Yeah, you know, Jason over at Dadcentric had a good idea. He said you shouldn't avoid conflict on this issue. You should create it. Bring all the family members together. Have a cage match. And whoever wins the cage match, gets to be the guardian of the children. Because that's who you want looking out for your kids.
Daddy Brad: Two grannies enter the ring but only one steps out.
Daddy Clay: Obviously, we don't have any good advice on the subject. If you have an idea how best to resolve the conflict over who to name guardian in your will, let us know. Drop a comment on this video. Go to the forums at DadLabs.com and discuss it. How did you and your spouse work it out? How did you come to an agreement? And did you have conflict? Let us know. We want to hear from you.
Daddy Brad: You know Daddy Clay, one thing there's no conflict over, who makes the best baby carrier on the market. It is BabyBjorn. Thanks BabyBjorn for sponsoring this episode.
Daddy Clay: We'll see you next time here in The Lab. That's gotta be one of the toughest questions you've ever asked your spouse.
Daddy Brad: Yeah, you feeling randy tonight baby?
Daddy Clay: No, I was thinking about the will but then maybe, maybe actually will you marry me is probably a tough one for her.