Special Needs Financial Planning A Comparative Perspective

Countries around the world are facing pressing needs to enhance financial planning mechanisms for individuals with cognitive impairment. The book provides the first comparative study of the three most common of such mechanisms in Asia and the West, namely guardianship, enduring/lasting powers of attorney, and special needs trusts. It involves not only scholarly overviews of the mechanisms in the jurisdictions studied, but also thorough, structured and critical reviews of their operational experiences. This book will have broad appeal to scholars, students, law and policy makers and practitioners in the fields of mental disability, healthcare and elder law. It is widely recognised in the field that books like this one are needed. This book will also be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students in mental health, disability law and elder law.

Part I. Adult Guardianship: 1. Adult guardianship and other financial planning mechanisms for people with cognitive impairment in Australia Terry Carney; 2. The role of guardianship in the special needs plan in Saskatchewan, Canada James H. Gillis; 3. Japanese adult guardianship laws: developments and reform initiatives Makoto Arai; 4. The use of trusts in Taiwan's adult guardianship system Tai Yu-Zu; Part II. Lasting/Enduring Power of Attorney: 5. Adult guardianship and powers of attorney in England and Wales Denzil Lush; 6. Supported decision-making and enduring powers: innovations in Ireland Áine Hynes; 7. Developments in enduring powers of attorney law in Australia Trevor Ryan; 8. Financial planning mechanisms available to persons with special needs in Singapore Tang Hang Wu; Part III. Special Needs Trust: 9. What will happen when I'm gone? Dana Katherine Birkes; 10. The Wispact Trusts: making a difference in a means-tested support system Roy Froemming; 11. SNTC's operational experience as Singapore's first non-profit trust company Esther Tan and Amelia Leo; 12. A new perspective in adult guardianship and trusts in Korea Cheolung Je; 13. Reforming enduring powers and launching a special needs trust in Hong Kong Lusina Ho and Rebecca Lee.

Critically examines the latest developments of special needs financial planning mechanisms in Asia and the West from the perspectives of scholars and professional experts. It will appeal to scholars, students, law and policy makers and practitioners in the fields of mental disability, healthcare and elder law.

Lusina Ho is the Harold Hsiao-Wo Lee Professor in Trust and Equity at the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong. She publishes widely in the fields of Equity and Trusts, and is the author of the first comprehensive English-language monograph on the Chinese trust.
Rebecca Lee is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong, where she teaches and researches in Equity and Trusts. Lusina Ho and Rebecca Lee co-edited Trust Law in Asian Civil Law Jurisdictions: A Comparative Analysis (2013), which critically examines the reception of trust in civil law jurisdictions in East Asia.