Q: See more information below
I'm looking into a shared living trust with my wife to cover property we own in California, and have a number of particular questions:
1 - in a revocable shared living trust, is it the law in California that after BOTH the original grantors die that the trust must become irrevocable? Is it the law or the convention?
2 - in lieu of designating specific beneficiaries in the trust, is there any California law that says that we as grantors can't give the person we choose to be the successor trustee (the trustee after both of us have passed) the authority to choose, on our behalf, particular beneficiaries, even if we as grantors did not name those beneficiaries in the original trust itself?
A:
Yes, in a traditional revocable living trust created by husband and wife, the trust would become irrevocable and non-amendable upon the death of one or both of them depending on how the trust is structured, not as a matter of law or convention, rather because the right to revoke and amend a trust is generally personal to the creators of the trust.
It is possible however to give someone the power to name the beneficiaries of the trust upon the death of the surviving spouse. This is referred to as a general or special power of appointment, but there are consequences which should be discussed with an attorney before making this decision.
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