Do I have to re-sign and re-date my Pour-Over Will each time I make amendments to my revocable Living Trust?

[Trusting_Soul]

Indiana

When I went in to sign the first amendment to my revocable Living Trust, they also had me re-sign, re-date, and re-notarize my Pour-Over Will, even though there were no changes to its contents. Is this something that has to be done every time I make an amendment to the Trust?

 

[quincy]

Indiana

When I went in to sign the first amendment to my revocable Living Trust, they also had me re-sign, re-date, and re-notarize my Pour-Over Will, even though there were no changes to its contents. Is this something that has to be done every time I make an amendment to the Trust?

Who is “they?”

Wouldn’t these people be able to answer your question about the necessity of updating your signatures on other documents?

Whether necessary or not, it can be smart to update signatures every so often because signatures often change over time, sometimes in dramatic ways.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Indiana

When I went in to sign the first amendment to my revocable Living Trust, they also had me re-sign, re-date, and re-notarize my Pour-Over Will, even though there were no changes to its contents. Is this something that has to be done every time I make an amendment to the Trust?

That varies depending the laws and legal practice in your state, what the trust document says, and the nature of the amendment you were making to the trust. While in most states it would not be a legal necessity for most amendments, it's a good practice as helps make the trust less vulnerable to attack after you die. Again, though, the details of the trust and the amendment matter.

 

[TrustUser]

a better question is why are you making so many amendments to your trust ? amendments tend to "disappear"

 

[Trusting_Soul]

I live in Indiana. "They" is the Law Firm that created my Trust. I also had to re-sign and re-date the Affidavit of Trust. I asked them the reason for having to re-sign and re-date the Pour-Over Will and Affidavit of Trust documents and they said:

"Anytime there is a change of any kind to a Trust, you have to have that same date on the Will and Affidavit of Trust documents".

This was the very first amendment made to my Trust.

 

[zddoodah]

Is this something that has to be done every time I make an amendment to the Trust?

It seems that you already knew the answer to this question before you even asked:

"They" is the Law Firm that created my Trust. . . . I asked them the reason for having to re-sign and re-date the Pour-Over Will and Affidavit of Trust documents and they said:

"Anytime there is a change of any kind to a Trust, you have to have that same date on the Will and Affidavit of Trust documents".

 

[Trusting_Soul]

I'm questioning the answer.

 

[quincy]

I live in Indiana. "They" is the Law Firm that created my Trust. I also had to re-sign and re-date the Affidavit of Trust. I asked them the reason for having to re-sign and re-date the Pour-Over Will and Affidavit of Trust documents and they said:

"Anytime there is a change of any kind to a Trust, you have to have that same date on the Will and Affidavit of Trust documents".

This was the very first amendment made to my Trust.

Thank you for answering my question, Trusting_Soul.

The law firm appears to have answered your question adequately. It makes sense to have all of the documents reviewed at the same time that an amendment is made to any one of them, and then have all documents signed and dated anew.

 

[TrustUser]

i dont know what the nature of your amendment was, but if it has anything to do with beneficiary names or percentages, i would not do so via amendments. and to a somewhat lesser extent, the naming of successor trustees.

 

[Trusting_Soul]

The amendment was made to correct a mistake made by the law firm in the description of a beneficiary. They created the amendment to correct it.

 

[LdiJ]

I'm questioning the answer.

Lets put it this way. Whether it is necessary or not, the firm that you are dealing with believes that it is prudent and therefore calls it necessary whether it actually is or not. This is not a bad thing in the overall scheme of things. I realize that it may mean some extra fees for you, and that is likely why you are questioning it, but it is still prudent and will avoid potential problems down the road.

 

[TrustUser]

as a general rule, there is nothing on the original trust document that signifies anything about any particular amendment. so if someone should toss out an amendment, no one would know. just fyi.

 

[quincy]

The amendment was made to correct a mistake made by the law firm in the description of a beneficiary. They created the amendment to correct it.

Sounds reasonable.

Because you do have attorneys working for you, you should rely on their advice and direction and not on anything any anonymous someone might tell you on an Internet forum.

On the whole, the group of members gathered on FreeAdvice are pretty darn smart - but nothing replaces advice and information provided you by an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction you have hired.

 

[Taxing Matters]

as a general rule, there is nothing on the original trust document that signifies anything about any particular amendment. so if someone should toss out an amendment, no one would know. just fyi.

And similarly if the trust does not have the same same dates and signatures as the amendment, it opens up the challenge that the original trust was destroyed and that without finding a replacement trust both trust and amendment are invalid. Careful drafting can help cut down on those possibilities, but ensuring consistent dates helps and has no downside to it other than a couple extra minutes of people signing several pieces of paper instead of just one.

 

[TrustUser]

hi tm,

i wasnt arguing about having new dates and new docs for the pour over will and affidavit. but i disagree with your first sentence, at least in the way that i am reading it. because an amendment and the trust are never gonna have the same dates on it. the amendment has its own date on it, and then refers to the ABC Trust dated on such and such a date.

personally, i do not think that a pour-over will needs to be redone, because there is an amendment to the trust. i dont really see the logic to that, at all. an amendment does not change the dates of the trust, so the will points to the exact same instrument, before and after the amendment is created.

the pour-over will just dumps any assets that remain in the estate to the trust. you may be able to create some obscure example in which changing the date of the pour-over will is helpful. but it certainly would not apply to most situations.

with regards to affidavits, i dont think they are a good idea, and i never use them. i dont want 2 documents with "supposedly" the same info on them. if an entity wants to know what powers the trustee has, there is only 1 document that shows that - the trust itself.

i have had many entities make me fill in their own form, in order to business with them. which is fine.

from a privacy standpoint, i place all my beneficiary stuff on 1 page, by itself. whatever other pages they want to see, i simply send them pages from the trust, itself. most entities want the title page, with the naming of the trust, its revocability, etc. the names of the trustee, and successors, if pertinent. and the powers. and the signature, notary page.

so if i am opening a bank acct, the bank is gonna want to know that i have banking powers. similarly for any other type of business, they want to know that i have the power to do things in that business line.

you already know that i am a stickler for trust protection. on my trust, i place the name of the trust with the date on it, in the title area. for example. the name of this trust is the ABC Trust, notarized on march 16, 2023. this date must match the notary date on page 25. i print it out a few days ahead of time, and make sure that i get it notarized on that very date. i print, sign, finger print and date EVERY SINGLE PAGE on the trust document. i betcha as many trusts as you have seen in your life, you have never seen one with all of that on every single page - LOL