If you would like to have more control over your estate, even after you pass away, one potential asset transfer strategy is to use a trust. You can name a beneficiary, who is the intended recipient of those funds. But you also put a trustee in charge, and they are the one who is allowed to access the trust. The beneficiary cannot access it on their own.
In some cases, this does mean that the trustee can determine how those assets can be spent or used. For instance, with a discretionary trust, the trustee just gets to use their best judgment. This is sometimes used when the beneficiary is very young, and you want to appoint an older and wiser person to assist them with spending and ensure that they actually use the money in a way that is in their best interests.
You can give the trustee instructions
But you do not have to leave all of the decisions up to the trustee. You can also leave them direct instructions.
In some cases, people will choose a specific goal for the trust. Maybe it has been established so that the beneficiary will not have to worry about the rising costs of college tuition. The trustee is authorized to pay for educational costs until graduation, when the beneficiary gets access to the rest of the funds.
In other cases, people will focus on a certain age. The trustee may be instructed to release the funds to the beneficiary only when they turn 25 or 30 years old, for instance.
Exactly how you want to structure a trust is up to you and depends on what you believe will be best for your family. But this helps to show some of the options that you have, the power that you are giving the trustee and the importance of understanding all of your legal options while setting up your estate planning documentation.