Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
I live in California. When I was married I had a Living AB Trust with my ex. Now that we have been divorced for over 5 year is the Living Trust automatically revoked? Is it still valid? Can we put our property into it? we want everything remain the same.
4 Answers from Attorneys
The dissolution of a marriage does not automatically revoke a trust. It is still valid. If it is an AB trust with language that discusses community and separate property and/or a marital deduction, that language will no longer be valid since you are no longer married and there is no longer a community estate.
You should meet with an attorney to discuss your options such as setting up your own trust or, while very unusual, amending the existing trust.
While a Judgment of dissolution of marriage does not automatically revoke a trust created during the marriage, the Judgement does automatically revoke any transfer between the spouses which would be effective upon the death of either party. A new trust or trusts should be drafted, otherwise the old trust is not likely to be effective to transfer property between the former spouse..
Ditto to the above. You should each have a new trust and transfer the property you received out of the dissolution into your new trusts. the beneficiaries may be the same in each trust.