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Can beneficiaries of an irrevocable trust be removed?

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TwoNorthern

Junior Member
State: New York

My mother-in-law's irrevocable trust was initially set up with three beneficiaries, her three children. In the event of any of them pre-deceasing her, the child's inheritance would fall to his/her child(ren). This section was later modified to state that the child's inheritance would fall to the spouse instead. As fate would have it, one child did pass away but this was before the modification was made so his portion of the estate was left to still fall to the children rather than the spouse.
The problem we have is that the two children who would benefit from this have virtually dis-owned their grandmother and she therefore is having very serious reservations about leaving them anything from her estate. Can the trust be modified to exclude these two children? If so, what measures must be taken to prevent their mother from contesting the distribution? :confused:
 


Dandy Don

Senior Member
Make sure you have a trust attorney advising you to review the trust to make sure it meets that state's legal requirements.

Yes, the trust can be modified. One way to do it would be to have a different trust set up for each beneficiary and (doesn't common sense tell you this): take out the provision that says the child's portion falls to the spouse.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])
 
S

seniorjudge

Guest
TwoNorthern said:
State: New York

My mother-in-law's irrevocable trust was initially set up with three beneficiaries, her three children. In the event of any of them pre-deceasing her, the child's inheritance would fall to his/her child(ren). This section was later modified to state that the child's inheritance would fall to the spouse instead. As fate would have it, one child did pass away but this was before the modification was made so his portion of the estate was left to still fall to the children rather than the spouse.
The problem we have is that the two children who would benefit from this have virtually dis-owned their grandmother and she therefore is having very serious reservations about leaving them anything from her estate. Can the trust be modified to exclude these two children? If so, what measures must be taken to prevent their mother from contesting the distribution? :confused:

My mother-in-law's irrevocable trust was initially set up with three beneficiaries, her three children. In the event of any of them pre-deceasing her, the child's inheritance would fall to his/her child(ren). This section was later modified to state that the child's inheritance would fall to the spouse instead.

Something is wrong here. If it's irrevocable, she can't change it. But if it's been changed, then it's not irrevocable.

In any event, if it is revocable (instead of irrevocable) change it. If it is irrevocable (instead of revocable) she will just have to live with it.
 

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