I’m not a lawyer and can’t advise you but my understanding is that a trust gives you, as the trustee, the ability to use your own words to specify what you you wish to happen to your estate upon your passing. Your assets that you have directed to a specific beneficiary through a bank or managing institution probably fall under the rules of the institution that holds those assets.
There’s always a chance that your designated beneficiary might run into a “Well, our policy is…” roadblock when they try to access what you have intended for them.
It’s a grantor trust. I think the most common reason why people use a living trust is for probate. Other types of trust carry conditions
There are no tax benefits to a grantor trust and different types of irrevocable trusts can have tax treatment that’s worse then what people normally pay