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Henderson Office: 702.433.4455
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Amending Your Trust

by: 
Law Firm of Jeffrey Burr

The main component of the estate plan for most people is a revocable living trust that they establish during their lifetime. When you create a revocable living trust, you can only plan for the present and for the near foreseeable future.  However, an unanticipated change in circumstances in your life may necessitate the amending of your revocable living trust.  Simple examples are when you wish to change the successor trustee or provide for a specific bequest to a new beneficiary or change the amount of a monetary bequest going to a beneficiary.  In these situations, how do you amend the trust?

First of all, oral changes to a trust agreement will never be legally enforceable (i.e. trustor tells someone that his car should go to a child or grandchild.)  The reason for the unenforceability of oral amendments is that once the trustor is deceased, he or she is not there to verify (or deny) the purported oral amendment.  If this was not the rule, anyone could allege that the trustor orally changed the trust before he or she died, and there would be no way to prove or disprove this.

In order to determine how to properly amend your trust, the provisions of the revocable living trust agreement must be closely examined. The agreement will specifically state how the trust can be amended.  Oftentimes the trust agreement will provide that any amendment to the trust must be in writing, dated, signed by the trustor and delivered to the trustee.  It is essential that the terms of the trust regarding amendment be strictly adhered to.  Even when amendments are made in writing, there can be problems. People will sometimes attempt to amend their trust by marking out some provision and handwriting something in its place. They may even date and initial the change.  However, if the trust agreement requires that the amendment be signed by the trustor and it is not re-signed, the amendment fails to satisfy the amendment conditions as set forth in the trust agreement.  This, of course, can have serious ramifications, including the possible failure of the trustor’s intentions being carried out once he or she has died. The successor trustee or an interested party could petition the court to take jurisdiction of the trust and determine what the intent of the now deceased trustor was.  This seems to be a failure, however, since one of the main advantages of a revocable living trust is to avoid court involvement and the accompanying costs and fees.  Also the court may construe the trust contrary to what the true intent of the deceased trustor really was.

Accordingly, it is best to always consult a qualified estate planning attorney such as those at the Law Offices of JEFFREY BURR to assist you in the proper amendment of your trust.

-Attorney John R. Mugan
Las Vegas Office
10000 W. Charleston Blvd., Suite 100
Las Vegas, NV 89135
Phone: 702.254.4455
Fax: 702.254.3330
Henderson Office
2600 Paseo Verde Parkway, Suite 200
Henderson, NV 89074
Phone: 702.433.4455
Fax: 702.451.1853
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