Arizona  |  Wills and Trusts

She cannot rewrite the trust agreement unilaterally. There is no reason to remove his name from the trust. The trust agreement should provide for administration of the trust after the death of the first spouse, and should also provide what will happen to the trust assets upon the passing of the surviving spouse.

Depending upon the terms of the trust, the trust may be irrevocable and she can do nothing to change the terms, or she may be free to change the terms of the trust as she wishes and do whatever she wants with the trust assets.

The lawyer who wrote the trust has no interest in the trust. Hopefully, all of their real properties were transferred by deed to the trust and now, the trust is the owner of the properties. If the properties were not conveyed to the trust, then a probate would need to be opened in order to obtain a court order conveying the title to the heirs of the decedent.

Your mother-in-law should get legal counsel at once, and learn what the trust agreement provides, what are the available options and whether a probate is required for assets that were not transferred to the trust.