Can an Additional Trustee Be Added to an Existing Trust?

Yes, a person can add or remove trustees from an existing living trust. Here is a short story as to why a family may want to do this.

My wife of 42 years just recently passed. Even though I lost the best part of me, I still have an incredible son and two amazing grandchildren. Prior to my wife’s passing, I had set up a revocable trust with my wife. I have a house, a rental home, a bank account, and retirement accounts. I am not rich by any means, but I have an estate that is substantial enough to make sure that it does not get eaten up in probate costs, and that is why we decided on doing a revocable trust. Both my wife and I were named the co-trustees. With her passing, I am currently the sole trustee. My son is the successor trustee when I pass. 

I like to keep busy by working on my home and my rental property, especially since my retirement 12 years ago. It is a lot of work, but I really enjoy it.

I started to find tools around the house. I thought this was strange as I am a stickler for putting things back where they belong. It went from leaving tools around the house to finding myself on the roof and forgetting why or how I got up there. Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with dementia. I am only in the early stages and do not have any real issues with it right now. But, unless a miracle in medicine happens quickly, I will start to deteriorate soon.

My powers of attorneys will take care of my affairs, both financially and for medical decisions when and if I become incapacitated. But I started to worry about the administration of my trust assets. I want my son to have more control now instead of when I cannot help myself anymore, especially with the rental house. So, I called my attorney and explained my situation. She assured me that my powers of attorney are sufficient. But, I let her know that I wanted my son to have more control now, rather than when I am too far gone. She suggested that I could change my son to a current co-trustee, rather than a successor trustee. He could then jointly have all the powers that I have currently. Access to the bank accounts, negotiating with renters, etc.

Well, that sounded expensive and complicated, but my attorney said it really isn’t that complicated. It can be done by a simple amendment, to both the trust and the certificate of trust. Just a single piece of paper for each, that does nothing else but add my son as a co-trustee. I was told it did not have to be notarized, but it was recommended to do so. So, that is what we did. I keep a copy inside my trust binder and a copy with my son. And that was it. I now have the peace of mind I wanted.

Since my son can now assist me with managing my affairs, I can spend the rest of my good days with my grandchildren, and not worrying. I know that I still may live a long time, but just not be able to enjoy them the way I would like. But, at least whatever days I have left knowing my surroundings, they will be spent active and creating memories with my loved ones. They may not be memories for very long, but at least I can still exist much longer through their minds, even though mine won’t last nearly as long. And, not only is this all right with me, it makes me happy knowing this for as long as I still can.

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