Minors and no Will

 Minors and no Will    in addition to the appointment of an Administrator for an intestate estate, if the count resident dies leaving a child under 18 years of age and there is no other legal guardian for that minor child, then the County Surrogate must appoint that minor child's guardian. The procedure for this appointment is similar to the application and bonding process for an Administrator in the sense that the law gives certain family members priority to serve as guardian of the deceased's minor child, while allowing those lower on the priority ladder to serve as long as the appropriate written renunciations have been received by the Surrogate. (In contrast, if the person who died had a Will, the deceased could have designated the guardian(s) of his/her minor child in the Will and this designation would have been binding upon the Surrogate and all others.

Source: https://www.bergencountysurrogate.com/index-2.html