Requirement that amendments to trust be “in writing” does not require formal execution. Shortly before his death, the settlor/trustee of a revocable trust delivered to his attorney a copy of the executed trust agreement with certain provisions crossed out and substitute provisions he hand wrote above the strike outs. In a contest between an original beneficiary and the person benefited by the handwritten modifications, the trial court found with the aid of extrinsic evidence that the amendment provisions of the trust required only that they be in writing and that the modifications were valid amendments.
In McCarthy v. Taylor, the intermediate Illinois appellate court affirmed, holding that as a matter of law the requirement that an amendment be “in writing” does not require that the writing be a “formal legal document,” be signed, or explicitly state that it is an amendment of the trust.
Special thanks to William LaPiana (Professor of Law, New York Law School) for bringing this case to my attention.
