Different ways to amend a living trust document
Inspired by an interesting article of Christopher Yugo on nwi.com, i'd like to discuss the practical ways of how living trusts can be amended.
As I have already outlined in our firm's online learning center, there are basically two ways of amending living trusts.
You can either write down a separate document, that only contains amendment instructions, e.g. "delete section 4" and paste the section that is outlined in the amendment document into the living trust document instead. The legal effect is, assuming the grantor is entitled to change the trust (for further reference see here), that the legal implication of the trust change according to the amendment.
The other option is to restate the whole trust. If you do change the trust a couple of times, using simple amendments as outlined above can be a little confusing. Often restating the whole trust document is the better way to go. What Christopher Yugo does not mention in his article though is that one has to be really careful with the restatement of the trust. With the use of modern day word processors, it is very easy, that a passage of the restated trust document is deleted accidently. Such an oversight has to be avoided by all means. However, if you apply the proper diligence to the restatement, it is a great way of keeping you living trust document clear and understandable.
Continue reading "Different ways to amend a living trust document" »
