John & Linda's Children

John and Linda Sutton (not their real names) of Vancouver were 40 and 41 years old. They had three children: 8, 11 and 14. Two years ago, John and Linda left the children with friends and went on a weekend skiing trip to Whistler B.C. On the road, they were both killed in a head-on crash.

John and Linda had a will and had named Linda's parents as guardians. Unfortunately, Linda's parents were not as spry as they'd been when the will had been drafted eight years earlier. It was agonizing for the grandparents as they worried about their options. The only close relative lived in Chicago, and they didn't want to move the children so far away. They thought about foster care, but couldn't bring themselves to follow through on that option. The children, already distraught with the loss of both their parents and old enough to sense the dilemma that was taking place, were quickly getting out of control.

To help the family cope, the grandparents hired a house- keeper to assist with raising the children. While this dealt with some issues in the short term, it came at a substantial financial cost. In the interim, the grandparents continued to worry about their own health and whether or not they would be around to care for their grandchildren through to adulthood.