1. Trying to protect our current assets from any lawsuits which may come from the business activity.
2. Distribute the income generated from business, shares and future IPs.
Need to be more specific.
If you are going to be conducting business, then you should isolate the business by using a company to limit liability. Directors can sometimes go down with the company, and are often required to give personal guarantees. So it is a good idea for a director to be limited to 1 person and for this person to hold no assets. This person should also avoid giving money to a spouse or to a trust to buy property etc.
The business being run by a company could be run by the company as trustee, but the company and trust shouldn't have any other assets as these will be at risk if the business is sued.
It is generally a good idea to have a company as trustee to limit liability to the company. Holding shares is risk free - meaning that shareholders don't get sued because of their role in the company. So it is generally safe for a person to be trustee of a trust that only holds shares. The problem is passing on control to someone else. Changng trustees would mean changing title of the shares - which may be an administrative hassle in most cases. Shares of private companies could also attrach stamp duty in some states, especially if the trust is no set up a particular way.
If you die the trust assets don't form part of your estate, so won't pass to your executor. They will remain in the trust and the trustee will be replaced as per the instructions in the deed.
You also should be careful how you use the structures. How you transact things and control things. Also who you tell what - loan applications etc. Remember the trust assets are not your own.
(I have a matter now involving a lawyer who set up a company as trustee. Someone owes the trustee money, yet he has put himself- instead of the trust - down as a creditor. Even lawyers don't understand trusts!).