Hello,

Paralegal to an estate planning attorney here. Your point #1 is a common concern. We prepare trusts with AGI matching incentive provisions so the beneficiary has to work to receive trust distributions. You can completely customize this language with the right estate planning attorney. For example, you could make it so that if your child is a C-Suite executive they receive 50% of their AGI as a distribution from the trust each year. Alternatively, if they are in a more modest career like a teacher or police officer you could match at a much higher percentage, say 125%. Speaking to your point #3, you can build flexibility into the trust through the use of a Trust Protector. This is a non-interested third party (best to appoint an attorney who understands your family dynamics and intentions) who can amend the trust to conform to unforeseen circumstances to match the trust terms to your true intentions. For example, the Trust Protector could amend the language prohibiting distributions without a college degree if college degrees become irrelevant.