Under Probate Code 21310, as amended in 2008, a no contest clause applies to the document containing the no contest clause or to a document in existence when the instrument containing the no contest clause is executed, if that instrument refers to the document specifically or as one of a class of such documents. But a no contest clause may not apply to future amendments to the instrument containing the no contest clause unless the amendment itself contains a no contest clause or incorporates the original instrument’s no contest clause by reference to that clause. Here, a third amendment to a trust agreement incorporated the trust agreement’s provisions generally but did not refer to its no contest clause in particular, and so the amendment was not protected against a contest.
California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Six (Yegan, J.); October 23, 2017; 2017 WL 4769071.