In 1183 Balian and Baldwin supported Raymond against Guy of Lusignan,
husband of Sibylla of Jerusalem and by now regent for
Baldwin IV, who was dying of leprosy.
The king had his 5-year-old nephew Baldwin of Montferrat crowned as co-king
in his own lifetime, in an attempt to prevent Guy from succeeding as king.
Shortly before his death in spring 1185, Baldwin IV ordered a formal
crown-wearing by his nephew at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It
was Balian himself—a notably tall man—who carried the child Baldwin V on his
shoulder at the ceremony, signifying the support of Isabella's family for her
nephew. Soon after, the eight-year-old boy became sole king. When he, too, died
in 1186, Balian and Maria, with Raymond's support, put forward Maria's daughter
Isabella, then about 14, as a candidate for the throne. However, her husband, Humphrey IV of
Toron, refused the crown and swore fealty to Guy. Balian reluctantly also
paid homage to Guy, while his brother refused to do so and exiled himself to Antioch. Baldwin placed Balian in charge
of raising his son Thomas, the future lord of Ramla, who did not go with his
father to Antioch.