Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: Amending a California ''Family Revocable Trust''

You can use an online kit or you can hire an attorney to "restate" your family trust. Most attorneys will do so for a reasonable flat rate and the benefit over a kit is an ongoing relationship as well as a person for the adult children/trustees to go to when the time comes for them to act as trustees. Without knowing which oline service you were looking at, it would only be a guess as to what they call the document. It sounds like joint married with children but I could not say for sure. Feel free to contact me directly.

Re: Amending a California ''Family Revocable Trust''

It sounds like you're looking at forms for new trusts, which would be more complicated than an amendment (which sounds like all you need). I haven't seen any kits for amendments, unless they were included with the original forms.

I'd recommend using an attorney, as I've run across many amendments requiring expensive fixes because of improper or incomplete wording. You'll probably also want to change the nominated agents/executors in the other documents, like powers of attorney and the pour-over will.

Different estate planning attorneys have different amendment policies, but you should be able to find a competent attorney to do the work for $600 or less, and that will buy peace of mind that the plan will work after you're gone.

Also, you can check the state bar website at www.calbar.org to see if you can find your previous attorney. Current information regarding California attorneys is searchable online.

Re: Amending a California ''Family Revocable Trust''

I agree with the other attorneys, and would add that many couples have trusts with tax planning ("AB" trusts) which are no longer necessary now that the individual exemption from estate taxes is $3.5M. It may save the surviving spouse a lot of attorney and accounting fees if you have your trust reviewed by an attorney now.