Everything Can Change

26 Jun 2023 · 1 min

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0:35

In this brief video, the speaker shares a personal anecdote where a surviving spouse revoked a revocable family trust after the first spouse's death, diverting assets to a new partner. He explains that revocable trusts are vulnerable because the surviving spouse can alter or terminate them, potentially undermining the original estate plan. To safeguard a portion of the estate, he recommends embedding an irrevocable trust within the revocable trust that automatically becomes effective upon the first death, thereby locking away assets from any later changes by the surviving spouse.

Chapters

My parents were married 50 years and within 2 years of my mom's death, he revoked the family trust and gave everything to his girlfriend. Yes, that happens frequently. A revocable trust can be completely done away with by the surviving spouse. After the first spouse dies, the surviving spouse can do whatever they want to with the remaining trust. The only way to protect against this is to create an irrevocable trust within the original revocable trust so that at the first death, the irrevocable trust comes into creation, and a portion of the estate is thereafter completely protected.