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1.  No will or trust

If you both die, to avoid orphanage, someone has to apply in court to be your children's guardian.  It could be a relative, a friend, a classmate, someone the court believe that if you were alive, you would have approved such assignment.   If you had such person, let him or her know in writing, so that at least he/she can use your writing to apply to be a guardian in case you died.  

2.  Will

Now, you can designate such person in your will, so that person will be able to take care of your child and your estate (遺產).  Your estate would be in your child's name but that person will be able to manage the account and use the money.   But you have little say of how the guardian manages the money 

Most importantly, your child will be able to control the money when he/she turns 18.  Do you trust putting hundreds of thousands of dollar in a child's hand? 

3. Trust

It is a good idea to have a trust if you have minor children.   I will use an analogy 劉備托孤給諸葛亮,  Liu bei can specify in the trust how Zhuge manage the money (e.g. put in stock index fund), how to spend the money, what happens to the money (keep the money in the trust until the child turns 25 or 30).  

The detail of trust is very big topic.   But if you have half a million or more dollar in asset, it is important to talk about setting up a trust for your minor children.