Practical Estate Planning Tips Series 6 Of 10

​Tip #6:  Consider a Restated Amendment to Your Trust.
 
Many times, I will have a client come in and they will have 3, 4, 5... amendments to their trust.  Sometimes they will have them all, many times they will be missing one in the middle, and most of the time they are confused as to what all the amendments say.
 
Further, many times such trust and amendments will be many years old and the amendments addressed specific concerns of the client, such as successor trustees or beneficiaries, but they did not address the change in laws.
 
Usually a restated amendment (or a restatement of trust) provides one trust document to look at and follow. This is because the restatement replaces the original trust and all amendments with one document, yet you keep the same trust name and original date of signing so you don't have to go re-title assets already in your trust. It should also update the trust to the current laws.