Form to add trustee to a Trust?

[Ryanxia]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has a sort of standard form/document for adding a Trustee to a Trust (ex. a revocable living Trust)?

I know Trust laws vary State to State, but I wouldn't think (could be wrong) that the amendment to a Trust to add a trustee would be very different. At least it would be a good sample of what to search for.

So, anyone have a template?

 

[HRnightmare]

I'm no lawyer but I would think adding a trustee would require a whole bunch of changes to the wording of the trust. Probably needing you to redo the trust.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

I'm no lawyer but I would think adding a trustee would require a whole bunch of changes to the wording of the trust. Probably needing you to redo the trust.

Adding or removing a trustee is a minor change that almost never requires a restatement. Most trusts allow to grantor the sole right to make amendments. There is usually a section of the trust dealing with amendments.

I would suggest the following in order:
1. Consult the attorney or software for instructions.
2. Read the trust to see what it says about amendments.

Mike

 

[Ryanxia]

I'm no lawyer but I would think adding a trustee would require a whole bunch of changes to the wording of the trust. Probably needing you to redo the trust.

You're right, you're no lawyer...

There are many different types of trusts, a Revocable trust is setup as such that it is a simple amendment to add a trustee. I'm just looking for something to compare my wording to, although I think I'll be all set.

 

[HRnightmare]

Mine is a revocable trust. I attempted to have one of the well known gun trust companies amend it and they told me it would just be easier to start a new one then to amend that one.

I consoulted a lawyer who told me a similar thing.

Perhaps they thought the potential for writing a new one from scratch would be worth the risk of loosing my business all together.

Please let me know what you find out and how you go about making the change.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

Mine is a revocable trust.

As are most.

Please let me know what you find out and how you go about making the change.

Not researching that topic currently. The answer will depend on the trust language and state law.

Mike

 

[medalguy]

Wouldn't writing a new trust necessitate transferring guns from the old trust to the new trust? I dunno because I've never seen a need to amend mine.

 

[crazysccrmd]

If the trust is written to allow the grantor to make changes it is fairly simple. A separate form can be used but it would also be just as legal in most cases to scribble it into a page margin.

 

[Aaron Baker]

Mine is a revocable trust. I attempted to have one of the well known gun trust companies amend it and they told me it would just be easier to start a new one then to amend that one.

I consoulted a lawyer who told me a similar thing.

Perhaps they thought the potential for writing a new one from scratch would be worth the risk of loosing my business all together.

Please let me know what you find out and how you go about making the change.

The one time I dealt with a trust that I didn't draft, it was a complete... I can't think of a High Road word to use. It was bad.

Instead of amending that trust, I did a restatement for the fellow. While it may be an oversimplification, the easiest way to explain things is that the only thing you can't change about a revocable trust is the name. Otherwise, a restatement of the trust, which uses the same name, can more or less rewrite the entire trust. If you're going to make substantial changes, a restatement is the way to go. I don't know anything about your trust, but I imagine the lawyers you consulted didn't want to mess with someone else's trust language that might have been subpar. (And in the case of the online guy, he probably has a comprehensive product that he already knows works.)

Amendments are pretty simple. I'm not going to give legal advice to the OP or anyone else, but all that's required for an amendment, really, is to write down the changes you want to make, sign and notarize. Then keep the amendment along with the original trust. If court wants to read a trust, they read the original, then the amendments in the order in which they were made. (The caveat, as noted above, is that your amendment should also comply with any restrictions set out in the body of the trust.)

If you get to a point where you have a significant number of amendments that need to be read in order to understand the trust, that's the other time that a restatement can be helpful. A restatement can be used to incorporate all the amendments into a single document. (Once a trust is restated, the original trust documents and amendments prior to the restatement are not part of a court's future interpretation. It's like a "reset" button.)

OP, if you didn't consult a lawyer to draft your trust, then probably any "amendment" type form you come across on the internet won't steer you too far wrong, although you're running a risk any time you don't consult an expert. This is part of the reason (besides self-interest) that I recommend people find a reasonably-priced NFA trust attorney in their state--I include an amendment form with my trusts, but also provide free assistance with amendments any time in the future. They're not hard, but it also isn't something you want to screw up.

Aaron

 

[Ryanxia]

Thanks for the feedback Aaron.

 

[HRnightmare]

Aaron Baker - SO let me ask you this, given what I said earlier, lets say for this scenario my form is completely sideways and messed up, Would it be legal to completely re-write the trust starting from scratch, name it the same and having it "replace" the old one or is that not legal?

I did mine online with a fill in the blanks style legal website. The only amendment I have ever made to it was to change the address when I moved down the road a few miles, thats it. Other than that it is pretty basic and has nothing then a few of my SBR's and Suppressors in its possession.

 

[Aaron Baker]

It may well depend on what state you live in, their trust laws, and the language of the trust itself. I can't really provide you with legal advice, since you're not my client and you (presumably) don't reside in Kentucky, where I'm licensed to practice.

But essentially, a "restatement" of a trust is more or less what you've described. By its terms, it will refer to the trust that you've already written, but it will completely "restate" the terms of that trust. You can't change the grantor--that's you. You can't change the name. But you can change things like adding NFA specific language to the trust, naming different trustees, naming different beneficiaries, etc. You can almost completely re-write a trust using a restatement.

In some sense, it boils down to semantics. You're not writing a whole new trust and giving it the same name. You're re-writing the trust, so its name isn't changing, but perhaps most of the details of the trust are. I can see how that might seem like the same thing, but legally, there's a distinction, which is why it's called a restatement.

The difference, of course, is that with a restatement, you don't have a new trust, and it still owns everything it already owned, and so there's no need for tax stamps to transfer from one trust to another. It's the same trust.

It's really something that's best to have a lawyer do, but really, why would you restate your own trust unless you were going to have a lawyer who writes NFA-specific trusts do it?

Hope that info helps.

Aaron

 

[packpike]

My trust came with a blank 'Subordinate Trustee Nomination' form. It's a 1 page, very simple form.

It basically says that:
I accept the nomination as Subordinate Trustee of the XYZ Trust. I understand and comply with state and federal laws meaning that I'm not (a-under indictment, b- a convicted criminal...). The new trustee signs, has 2 witnesses and is notarized. I then put it with my trust and put a copy with each copy of the trust that goes around with my NFA items.