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Amending a Trust

The following summaries are of recent published decisions of the California appellate courts, the Ninth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. The summaries are presented without regard to whether Severson & Werson represented a party in the case.

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Diaz v. Zuniga, No. B318131, 2023 Cal. App. LEXIS 395 (Ct. App. May 19, 2023)

Following Balistreri v. Balistreri (2022) 75 Cal.App.5th 511, this decision holds that if a trust provides a procedure or method for amending the trust, whether phrased as exclusive or optional, any amendment must conform to that procedure or method; otherwise it is invalid.  Prob. Code 15402’s “qualification ‘[u]nless the trust instrument provides otherwise’ indicates that if any modification method is… Read More

Balistreri v. Balistreri, No. A162222, 2022 Cal. App. LEXIS 146 (Ct. App. Feb. 24, 2022)

If a trust provides a procedure or method for amending the trust, whether phrased as exclusive or optional, any amendment must conform to that procedure or method; otherwise it is invalid.  Prob. Code 15402’s “qualification ‘[u]nless the trust instrument provides otherwise’ indicates that if any modification method is specified in the trust, that method must be used to amend the… Read More