Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

Re: modify trust

Every few years you should anticipate that your life will change as well as changes in the law will occur that will necessitate changes to your trust or other estate planning documents. In this case an entirely new trust may not be necessary but a restatement or amendment to the trust will be. You can and should have these updates done by an estate planning attorney assuming the original drafting lawyer is not available. You can visit the website "Wealth Counsel.com" and get a list of attorneys in your state that can assist you. Our firm is also available to update your document. We also have a program for a nominal fee each year which would save you the additional chunk of money you would normally have to outlay each time you wanted to update a document.

Re: modify trust

I cannot make specific response without seeing the document, but a well-drafted revocable trust usually contains language (not relying on the title) saying something like "the settlor may amend or revoke this trust in whole or in part by an instrument in writing" -- look for the part that actually says revoke & that should be in there. Then you may amend language or substitute sections, etc. The attorney who drafted the trust should be available to you or I can help. I can reassure you that you almost certainly can change -- but you would be on dangerous ground to attempt it yourself.