Your life is ever evolving. So even if you are productive in establishing your estate plan relatively early, you may rest easier knowing that you can always go back to it and amend or revoke it as deemed necessary. However, this may not necessarily apply if you opted for an irrevocable trust document. With that being said, please follow along to find out whether an irrevocable trust can be modified or removed from your estate plan altogether, and how a proficient Broward County trust lawyer can help you consider all your possible legal avenues.
How can an irrevocable trust be successfully modified?
It is not impossible to modify your irrevocable trust document, but it is not an easy, straightforward process either. First of all, when you establish this type of trust, you virtually relinquish your ownership rights over the property and assets used to fund it. And so, with this lost control, you cannot make any changes to your trust document without getting the unanimous consent amongst your named beneficiaries and designated trustee.
This may be executed by setting up a nonjudicial settlement agreement. This is a written agreement among you, your beneficiaries, and your trustee to amend the terms and conditions of the existing trust document. Or, you may opt for a process known as decanting. This involves transferring your trust’s property and assets into a new trust that includes your desired, modified terms and conditions.
The latter method may be more suitable if you and all other interested parties are looking into more significant alterations. Nonetheless, even if you do not initiate repairs to your irrevocable trust, the Florida probate court may take it upon itself to implement modifications. This is if it believes that your existing terms and conditions are limiting its full potential, it needs to adjust to new updates in estate and tax laws, it must be rid of clerical errors that may confuse its orders, etc.
Are there any chances of getting an irrevocable trust canceled?
Unfortunately, you may regret what you established in your irrevocable trust altogether and wish you could start from scratch. Well, as long as your beneficiaries and trustee are aligned, as long as your trust was created after January 1, 2001, you may go about a non-judicial termination. On the flip side, though, even if you do not want to cancel your trust, your trustee or one of your beneficiaries may step forward to initiate a judicial termination.
Before the Florida probate court, an interested party may argue why your trust document should be removed from your estate plan. Here, they may claim that your imposed terms are impossible to meet or hinder its material purpose; its value is too low to justify the anticipated administrative cost; its funded property and assets are associated with fraudulent activities; or otherwise.
The first step toward preparing yourself for this legal action is to retain the services of a talented Broward County estate lawyer. Look no further than The Probate Lawyers.
