It is no surprise that individuals, couples and families in California and nationally find a compelling utility in trusts from an estate-planning perspective. They are impressively flexible legal tools that can be creatively tailored to promote diverse goals. We note on our website at the Law Offices of Connie Yi that, because of that, they “can be an integral piece of estate planning.”
An immediate point to note concerning trusts is that there are many types, which can be crafted to promote specific goals and interests. Representative trust vehicles include these:
- Marital trusts
- Charitable trusts
- Special needs trusts
- Life insurance trusts
That list is highly circumscribed, with there being many additional kinds of trusts that can be tailored for specific purposes.
A reasonable inquiry regarding any trust focuses upon future changes to it once created. Specifically, can a trust be amended?
A recent media spotlighting of that concern poses that very question. It generally concludes that, “Unless you have something really exotic, chances are pretty good that you can make changes.”
We suggest to our readers that queries or concerns regarding trust amendability be directed to a proven estate planning attorney who routinely works with trusts.
We note on our website some fundamental attributes of revocable trusts (sometimes call living trusts) and irrevocable trusts and core differences between them, respectively.
One point of departure centrally concerns amendability. As we note, “you can change [a living] trust any time you like,” whereas “irrevocable trusts cannot be modified while you are living.”
Although that is an accurate observation, it is somewhat simplified here. Any individual seeking more in-depth information can directly contact a proven estate administration for more detailed data.