Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Texas

assets belonging to a minor

I am a Texas grandmother who has been gifting stocks & cash to my only grandson. These assets are now in stock and bank accounts in his name with me as trustee under the UTMA /UGMA legal format. He is now 17 and he can access these accounts when he becomes 18, I believe. His mother and I want to conserve these assets (about $60,000) for his college. He'll graduate in 2009. We are afraid he may draw them out at 18. We want to set up a plan whereby he cannot access these monies himself, until he is much older.

Since the assets are in his name, I am presuming he will have to give consent to putting them into a trust or other vehicle. (I do not want to use an annuity at all.) He is willing to sign whatever documents that his mother and I prepare.

Would a living trust, with him as grantor and beneficiary, and his mother and I as trustee, work to protect these assets through his college years? As an aside, knowing the unfavorable tax aspects of taxing on the trust level, we would probably distribute the income to a college account for his use. We are not interested in a 529 plan because he would not keep receipts properly.

What is your advice? Thank you.

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