The Mushroom Treatment: Why it’s ok for you to be kept in the dark!

In this video, partner Keith A. Davidson discusses why many children do not know when a parent changes the terms of their revocable Trust. Why is it ok for parents to make radical changes without letting you know?

The following is a transcript of this video:

We talked to dozens upon dozens of people every month about their trust and will case. And a lot of times, people will say to me, well, the trust was changed where I was either disinherited or my share of the estate was reduced by quite a bit. And I was never notified of that change. The parents never notified me. And you might be surprised to know that you don’t have to be notified of that change. So, when people are living and they’re making changes to their estate plan, it really is a private document. So if I create a trust and I leave everything to my kids equally, I can do that. And then a few years from now if I change that trust and I disinherit one of my children and I leave everything to my other child, I can do that, too, and I never have to tell them. They never have to be notified until my death. Upon my death, then they’ll get copies of the trust and will and they’ll see what the final versions of those things are and that, in theory, is what’s going to govern my estate.

Now, of course, if I was somehow unduly influenced into leaving everything to one child over the other, then the child who has been disinherited is going to want to see the prior versions of the trust, which they certainly can do if they file a lawsuit. They may not be able to do outside of a lawsuit because somebody may just refuse to provide it. The point is that a trust is a private document. That means your parent can create it, they can change it, and they can change it any way they want to multiple times, without ever having to notify you. Even though you’re a child and you would think that as a child of this trust and somebody who’s interested in this trust, that you should be notified of these changes. That’s not the requirement. There’s no law. There’s no obligation to notify you.

Now that doesn’t mean a parent can’t chose to do it, as an option, but that doesn’t often happen. And a lot of times, even the lawyer who drafts the estate plan will caution clients against sharing it. And the reason for that is they’re afraid that if there’s a change in the future, people might get upset, and so maybe it’s better not to tell anybody. I’m not saying that that’s a good approach. I’m not sure that it is. But this is what happens a lot of times in estate planning. So, just because you’re a child of your parent, does not mean that you’re supposed to get notice of any changes to the trust. And I know that might be surprising to hear, but that’s the way it works.