Statement of wishes: who will care for your child or relative if you no longer can
A parent of a minor, and anyone acting as guardian for a family member, knows they may one day be unable to continue. A statement of wishes lets them say in advance who should step in, and how they want that person to act. The law requires the court to give this weight, and in the case of a minor, priority.
“The court will choose the guardian in any case. The question is whether it chooses alone, or with your words in front of it.”
Adv. and Notary Igal Mor
What a statement of wishes is
A statement of wishes is a legal document in which a parent of a minor, or the guardian of a family member, names the person they ask to be appointed guardian in their place, should they cease, because of a disability, to be able to care for the child or relative and to make decisions about them.
The document was created by an amendment to the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law, alongside the enduring power of attorney and advance directives. The three tools share one idea: a person arranges in advance, while still capable, what will happen when they can no longer decide. The difference is who the arrangement is about.
An enduring power of attorney concerns the person who makes it. A statement of wishes concerns someone else, a child or relative for whom the maker is responsible, and the question of who will care for that person when the maker cannot. This distinction explains almost everything on this page.
Sections 64(b) and 64A(b) of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law, 5722-1962. Checked September 2026.
Who may make one
The Law opens the tool to two kinds of people. The first is a parent of a minor. The second is the guardian of a person, minor or adult, who is their relative. In the case of an adult, the document may name a corporation as the proposed guardian, not only an individual.
An important point: the Law expressly includes a "de facto guardian", meaning someone who in practice acts as a person's guardian even though never appointed by a court. A brother who has cared for his sibling for years, a daughter who manages her mother's affairs, can make a statement of wishes without a formal appointment.
Someone who is neither a parent nor a relative, such as a professional guardian or a guardianship corporation, is not included. The tool is meant for those whose connection to the person is familial, and whose concern about who comes next is personal.
Sections 64(a), 64A(a) and 67 of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law. Checked September 2026.
Two situations, two documents: disability versus death
The Law distinguishes between two scenarios. If the parent or guardian dies, the tool is a will: they may name in the will the person they ask to be appointed after their death. If they are alive but have ceased to be capable, the tool is a statement of wishes.
Many people make both together, in the same terms, so that the answer is the same in both situations. Nothing prevents this, and sometimes it is the right approach. But there are also cases where the choice differs: the person suited to caring for a child alongside a parent with limited capacity is not necessarily the one who should raise the child alone.
In both documents, instructions can be given as well as a name. The instructions concern matters the Law leaves to the discretion of the court or the guardian, and the court directs the guardian to act on them, subject to the person's best interests.
Sections 64(a), (b) and (c); sections 64A(a), (b) and (c) of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law. Checked September 2026.
What can be directed, and what should be
The power to give instructions is the heart of the document. The name says who; the instructions say how. One can write where the child will live and in which school, what contact will be kept with other family members, what matters in medical care, and how funds set aside for the child should be managed.
For an adult, the instructions can concern place of residence, way of life, social ties and how decisions are made. Here the Law states a limit expressly: if the person themselves gave different advance directives, their own directives prevail. The guardian's document cannot override the person's will.
A good instruction is one that can be carried out. Wording that is too general does not help the guardian, and wording that is too rigid may become unworkable when circumstances change. The drafting is done with the reader in mind: someone who will read the document years from now, without the ability to ask the author.
Sections 64(c) and 64A(c), (f) of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law. Checked September 2026.
How the document is made
A statement of wishes is made in writing and signed before a lawyer. The Law applies to it the provisions governing an enduring power of attorney, including the requirement that the lawyer has completed dedicated training under the regulations and has no personal interest in the document. The lawyer explains its meaning to the maker and, if doubt arises about capacity, refers the maker to a specialist.
The regulations provide that a document made by a lawyer is drawn up on Form C in the schedule, online. The maker or the lawyer may deposit it with the Administrator General, and it is then recorded in a computerised register. Deposit is not a condition of validity, but it is the way to ensure the document is found when it is needed.
Beyond the legal requirements there is a sound practice: speak in advance with the person proposed as guardian and confirm that they are willing. The court will hear that person when the time comes, and the appointment of someone who did not know and did not agree may fall apart exactly when it is needed.
Section 64(d) with section 32N of the Law; regulations 2, 4 and 6(c) of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Regulations (Enduring Power of Attorney, Advance Directives to a Guardian and Statement of Wishes), 5777-2017. Checked September 2026.
What the court does with the document
The document does not appoint a guardian. The appointment is made by the court, when an application is filed. The difference is in weight. For a minor, the Law provides that the court gives priority to appointing the person named in the document, and directs the guardian to act on the instructions, unless it finds that the child's best interests require departing from them.
There is one important limit regarding a minor: if the other parent is alive and capable, guardianship passes to that parent by law. A statement of wishes by one parent does not exclude the other, but operates alongside or in place of that parent, according to the circumstances.
For an adult, the court first hears the person themselves and examines whether a guardian is needed at all. If so, it appoints the person named in the document where the appointment is consistent with the person's best interests and takes account of their wishes. Here too, the document guides the court; it does not bind it.
Sections 64(e), 28, 36, 33A and 64A(e) to (f) of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law. Checked September 2026.
A statement of wishes versus an enduring power of attorney and advance directives
The three documents are signed before the same lawyer and are easily confused. An enduring power of attorney is the person's own: they appoint an attorney to act for them when they cannot. Advance directives to a guardian are also the person's own: they state who should be appointed their guardian, and what that guardian should do.
A statement of wishes is the only one of the three that concerns someone else. The parent or guardian is not arranging their own affairs but the continuity of care for the person who depends on them. It is therefore often made together with the same parent's enduring power of attorney, in the opposite direction.
A parent of a child with a disability, for example, can make an enduring power of attorney for themselves, a statement of wishes about who will care for the child, and a will dealing with property. Three documents, three different questions, and one coordinated answer.
Section 32A onward (enduring power of attorney), section 35A (advance directives) and section 64 of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law. Checked September 2026.
Where a lawyer makes the difference
The Law requires a trained lawyer, so the choice is not whether to see a lawyer but what to expect from one. A lawyer who knows the field helps first with the choice of person: not only who loves the child, but who can stand before a court, before the system and before the rest of the family.
The second part is drafting the instructions so that they hold. An instruction that contradicts the law, or ignores the possibility that circumstances will change, stays on paper. An instruction framed as a principle with examples, rather than as a command, lasts.
The third part is coordination: between the statement of wishes and the will, between one parent and the other, and between the document and an enduring power of attorney made at the same time. Contradiction between documents is the common reason a court ends up deciding alone.
Section 64(d) with section 32N of the Law; regulation 19 of the Regulations (training for lawyers). Checked September 2026.
In summary
In summary, a statement of wishes is the way the law gives a parent and a guardian to say in advance who should step in for them, and how. It is made in writing, before a trained lawyer, and may be deposited with the Administrator General. The court gives it priority where a minor is concerned, and real weight where an adult is concerned, always subject to the person's best interests.
Making the document requires familiarity with the formal requirements, with its relationship to a will and an enduring power of attorney, and with how a court reads instructions written years before they were needed.
Contact us to consider together who the right person is, what should be directed, and how to coordinate the document with the other arrangements available to you.
What people ask us about a statement of wishes
Does a statement of wishes bind the court?
I have cared for my brother for years without a formal appointment. Can I make such a document?
What is the difference between a statement of wishes and a will?
Does the other parent have to agree?
Can the document be changed or cancelled?
Must the document be deposited with the Administrator General?
Can two people be named in the document?
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Tell us who depends on you and who you have in mind. Together we will examine the choice, draft the instructions and coordinate them with the will and the power of attorney.