Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: Re-Write Existing Trust Myself

Draft a "RESTATEMENT OF THE SUCH AND SUCH TRUST DATED SUCH AND SUCH A DATE" That is the title of the new document. The copy the old document word for word except for the changes you want to make. Get it signed and notarized and file it with the County Clerk just as you did the original trust. If you want to change deeds that is a different question and you should see an attorney but if all you want to do is make changes to specific personal property or amounts of money without changing titles on bank accounts and deeds, you should be able to do this without an attorney. HOWEVER before you file this, pay an attorney a fee for an hour's consultation to go over the changes and make sure you have done everything right. The cost should be about $250.00.

ON THE OTHER HAND, attorneys generally charge no more than $350.00 to do all this work yourself if you go to the attorney who originally drafted the trust. He will pull the word processing file out of his computer, make the changes and whoosh, you are done for about $350.00

Re: Re-Write Existing Trust Myself

You can make changes, even doing a new one without chaning the name by calling it an amendment and restatement but you are asking for trouble doing it yourself or using a program (my opinion)

Joel

JOEL SELIK

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Re: Re-Write Existing Trust Myself

Yes you can... (see below)

You will need to create an Amendment to the Trust. You may need to retype the Trust almost in its entirety , however, unless you can get a copy on disk from your original attorney, as my co-counsel have already stated.

Just make sure to review the original documents so you do not create any conflicting statements. This can cause unwanted results, such as particular sections being stricken from the trust.

Because of the possible transfer and tax issues, we normally recommend clients avoid "Will-Mills" and stick to having an attorney draft and review their Trust and Estate documents. However, they can be done as you requested.

If you are interestedin learning a little more about wills and trusts, please feel free to visit our firm's site at www.No-Probate.com or call me directly at 626-578-0708, extension 4.

Scott