The Benefits of A Revocable Trust

The beauty of a revocable trust is that it is a will replacement. Therefore, much like a will, you can change it anytime you want to. You can revoke it. That’s the reason it’s called a revocable trust. You can tear it up;  just like you can tear your will up, you can do the same thing here. Rip it up anytime you want to and make it as permanent as you want it to be. As your life changes, as there are new family members, as there are marriages, as you get more stuff or your plan changes, you can always change it.  This is unlike an irrevocable trust which you can never change. There are reasons to do an irrevocable trust. They are rare, and more commonly, people choose a revocable trust.

What Not To Do

 Your revocable trust will control the stuff within it, and then your private agreement, your document will say what to do with the things inside the family entity. So, if you want to change who’s in charge who gets the money, all you do is make an amendment. What never to do with a will or a trust is cross out provisions and right in new provisions on it. That’s not enforceable, and it brings up a lot of questions. It’s going to make the administration very complicated, so don’t do that.

How To Amend Correctly

Create a separate document for either of these types of plans, wills, or trusts. Wills control probate, and a revocable trust avoids probate. What we want to do is, create a separate document that’s called the “First Amendment to the Philip and Mary Trust” or titled whatever the trust may be. Say that you will pull out the paragraph you’d like and substitute with whatever section you’d like. Or say that you amend this paragraph to read like this or that you ratify the rest of this document. Then, get the amendment signed.

Trust Vs. Wills

Trusts are a little bit easier to get executed than wills. Wills have some statutory signature requirements and requirements by law. Revocable trusts are a little bit easier with that easy-going with that. My suggestion is to talk to an attorney you trust if you have an attorney who drafted that document, go back to that attorney and ask about making amendments. Otherwise, if there’s another attorney you want to use, they can often review your existing document and amend that other attorney’s document for you.