Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Arizona

Re: living trust amendment

Amending your own trust without an attorney is a recipe for disaster. I strongly encourage you to hire an estate planning attorney to do the amendments for you.

Re: living trust amendment

Your question did not properly display. There must have been some problem in the email program or the Law Guru system. The sentences are incomplete. You may want to resubmit.

Amending a trust is tricky if you are not a professional, easy if you are experienced. It may be simple, it may be like self-help dentistry. An estate plan has many parts, and the parts affect each other. Wording matters. It may be scrutinized by lawyers after your death. If there are loopholes, inconsistencies, omissions, etc. there could be discord, lawsuits or claims among your beneficiaries. You do not want that.

We offer free, no obligation reviews of estate plans to see if they are proper or meet the needs of the parties. In literally 90% of the cases, even when done by an attorney, I will find something that is not up to our standards. That is why there are will and trust contests filed in the court. People generally underestimate the care which needs to be taken in estate planning. Forums like this are beneficial for general information. Specific advice on specific documents can only be done in person with the documents in front of the attorney.

For example, I do not know if you have an "A-B" trust (also known as a credit shelter or split trust). Amending that must be carefully done in a certain manner. There are tax ramifications of what you do as well.

Good luck and best regards,

James D. Jenkins