Special needs trusts are just one type of trust. There are quite a few different types of trusts, and they can be utilized for an almost endless variety of purposes. Two of the most common goals when starting a trust are to reduce the amount of taxes your estate will be required to pay upon your passing or to make it easier for your loved ones to inherit from you. You dont need to have a trust in order for an inheritance to be passed down; your will could handle this. But leaving it entirely up to a will isnt always the best idea. Putting your loved ones inheritance into a trust designed for that purpose can offer extra protections that mean your loved one actually does inherit what they were supposed to. For example, say you want to leave behind all your money to your child, but they end up on the wrong side of a lawsuit. That could result in them losing their inheritance in order to compensate the other party. But if that inheritance was in the right type of trust then the funds couldnt factor into the case.

Wills were mentioned in that last section. Just because a will isnt the most protected way to pass an inheritance, that by no means is to suggest that your will isnt a vital component of estate planning. You should include both a last will and testament and a living will as part of your estate planning. Your last will and testament is the document that lays out what your wishes are after you pass. You can include information about the funeral, guardianship for your children, inheritance, donations to make with your estate, and more. A living will is a document that lays out your medical wishes should you be in a state where you can make decisions for yourself, such as if you were in a coma.

Guardianship is an important thing to consider. If you have children who are minors, then you should absolutely write a will and include information about their future guardianship. A guardian is an individual that acts in a role much like a parent. They are tasked with looking after their wards best interests. However, while guardianship is most often over a child, some adults may also require a guardian. This is much harder to get granted, as it infringes upon a persons personal freedoms. But its a way to look after and care for those who cant care for themself like an adult child looking after their elderly parent who suffers from dementia.

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