The parents of an unmarried minor child are the joint natural guardians of the person of such child with equal legal powers and legal rights with regard to such child, provided that the parents are living together, are respectively competent to transact their own business, and are not otherwise unsuitable.

Whether appointed by a parent, the circuit court, or the clerk of court, an appointed guardian of a minor's estate has all the fiduciary powers set forth in Va. Code § 64.2-105 as of the date the guardian acts, plus seven additional powers enumerated in Va. Code § 64.2-1805(A), unless limited by an order of the court.

A guardian of the estate of minor is subject to court supervision with the requirements of filing an Inventory of such estate assets and annual accountings of such until such time as the guardianship is terminated and the guardian has filed a final guardianship account. Upon appointment the guardian of a minor's estate must qualify with the Clerk of Court and enter into bond, with corporate surety,  based on the value of the assets of the guardianship estate. 

A guardian of a minor’s estate has possession, care, and management of the minor’s estate, both real and personal. Income, and principal if income is insufficient, may be used for the minor’s health, education, maintenance, and support, after the guardian takes into account the minor’s other reasonably available resources and sources of income, support rights, and other reasonably available resources.

However, the guardian is prohibited from expending any of the minor’s estate for the minor’s benefit without first taking into account the minor’s other resources of income, support rights, and other reasonably available resources of which the guardian is aware. The most obvious generally available resource for a minor is from a living parent, or parents, who owe the minor a duty of support. 

Accordingly, the guardian of a minor’s estate shall not make any distribution of income or principal to or for a minor who has a living parent, whether or not the guardian is such parent, unless the distribution is authorized by the deed, will or other instrument creating the minor’s estate, or unless the court finds that the parent is unable to completely fulfill his or her duty of support or cannot be required to provide the support, or finds the distribution is beyond the scope of parental duty of support. Alternatively, a guardian may seek authority from the commissioner of accounts rather than from the court if the total distributions authorized by the commissioner do not exceed $5,000 in any one year.

A guardian of a minor's estate has the responsibility to Invest the assets of the minor's estate within a reasonable time, not to exceed four months to invest the principal of the estate. If the fiduciary invests prudently in accordance with the provisions of Va. Code §§ 64.2-1502 through 64.2-1506 and the Uniform Prudent Investor Act, the guardian is accountable only for such interest and profits as are earned from such investments.