Joint Revocable Trust is Mutual and Contractual and Therefore Cannot be Amended by Sole Surviving Settlor

In Kansas, two beneficiaries of a revocable trust jointly created by husband and wife brought a declaratory judgment action to invalidate amendments wife made after husband’s death. Using the same criteria applied to wills, the court in Mangels v. Cornell, 189 P.3d 573 (Kan. Ct. App. 2008), found that the trust was €œjoint and contractual€ and therefore could not be amended by only one of the settlors.