Posted by JKCA on 3/20/08 10:25am
Msg #239973

Trust Adendium

My grandmother has added an addendum to her trust. She typed the letter herself. She wants all 4 of her children to sign and also herself and my grandfather. Since the letter does not have notorial wording, I am going to attach an all-purpose acknowledgement. She wants me to notarize each signature (including 4 adult children), I think it is suitable to notarize only her and my grandfather, since they are the drawer of the doc. Is this right? Or should I notarize all 6?

Reply by sue_pa on 3/20/08 10:34am
Msg #239977

send Grandma to a lawyer. I'm not addressing the notarizing for family part because I'm not in CA although the general consensus on this board is don't do it (I personally disagree with that). However, it's apparent she doesn't know what she's doing or she'd know who and what gets notarized. Spend the few dollars for an attorney to be sure their wishes are carried out.

Reply by BobbiCT on 3/20/08 10:48am
Msg #239981

You may have a "financial interest"

In addition to the legal issue of whether the Addendum will "work" and, if not, disgruntled family members who didn't get what they expected, may decide to "sue you" for letting gramma do this; the old "you notarized it, didn't you tell gramma something was wrong?"

The Addendum will effect a Trust that YOU, as a grandchild, may have an interest in. It depends on terms of trust, beneficiary language, and pre-decease language. For example, many Trusts that I see have a clause that if a "named child" pre-deceases gramma, the children of the pre-deceased child (grandchildren) receive that child's share of the trust.

As previously posted. Stay away. Advise gramma to see the lawyer who created her trust; particularly as many of the trust laws and federal tax issues have changed over the years. Could be time for a trust check-up and a Re-Statement or Amendment.

Reply by JKCA on 3/20/08 11:01am
Msg #239985

Re: You may have a "financial interest"

Yes, I forgot that somewhere down the line it may turn into a financial interest for me. I have called grandma and referred her back to her attorney. Thank you.

Reply by Gary_CA on 3/20/08 11:18am
Msg #239989

Glad you sobbered up!

You've made the right decision on many levels... and really, not to pick on ya, but this was a no brainer.

#1 You may have a financial interest

#2 It's a will, okay, not exactly but close enough... and our manual specifically recommends that we not notarize wills except under the instruction of a lawyer.

#3 You were about to choose the type of notary action...

#4 It's just good not to notarize for family. On lots of levels.

All the best to you and your grandma... don't be notarizing for her. Really... even if you have to pay a collegue to do it, don't be notarizing anything for your grandma or a will (or will addendum or trust or trust addendum) for anyone.

You'll be happier.

Reply by CJ on 3/20/08 11:16am
Msg #239987

I used to sell trusts

I TOTALLY believe in them but I was not a good sales person.

I agree with BobbiCT:

If there is any way YOU could benifit when grandma dies, I think that makes you not qualified to notaraize it. Therefore, if you DO notarize it, the addendum will be worthless, even if everything else in the addendum is correct.

Also, becuase you are a relative, it could "look" like you talked her into it, so anyone who is unhappy could take you to court about it, and just imagine the mess that would be: Family divided between those who believe you and those who don't, happy family members verses unhappy family members, people who were counting on addendum not getting what Grandma actually DID want them to get, etc. And for what? Grandma saving $10?

Even if you had someone else notarize it, at least you would be out of the loop, but that does not guarentee that the addendum is correct. I meet people all the time who say to me, "If I write it, and you notarize it, that makes it legal, right?" They could sign an affidavit that says they are a Martian, but that does not make it so.

Spending a couple hundred on an attorney is worth getting this done correctly. Court and family scisms are much more costly monitarily and otherwise.

My husband and I paid out of our own pocket for his mom's Living Trust. We basically took her will to an attorney and had it made into a trust. My husband and his brother (the only offspring) and mom were all happy with the trust.

The first time we did it, it cost $2,000. We flew out, and took mom, brother and will to a general practioner attorney. It was in a state where mom lived, not us, and mom signed it. Great.

Later, I learned more aobut trusts, and we wanted some addendumes. I took (mailed) the trust to an Estate Planning attorney in mom's state, and that attorney said, "This trust is worthless: this is a witness state, and this trust was not witnessed". We had to pay another $2,000 to do it all over again. That trust was an inch thick, and I felt better. (None of the terms were changed.) I called a SS who gave the the name of a local mobile notary, and she took the trust to mom and had it signed. I paid her. Mom's health was going down and it was hard for her to get to the attorney's office.

Later, mom got Altzheimers, and we needed a trust to protect against catastropic illnesses. That was another $2,000 out of our pockets. We had to have mom declared incompetent, fly out to the state, and have both brothers co-sign everything at all the goofy banks that mom had squirreld her money away in. Really, dad had put the money in all those places before he passed, and mom didn't know where it was. We had to find it all.

So $6,000, a few air trips, and a few years later, we finally have the trust all organized. WE paid for everything, but it is worth it. WE know that WE will not have to go through probabte. We know that we will get our fair share, and the brother will get his fair share without the government getting ANY of it. That alone is worth the $6,000 and all the flying, losing time from work, etc. The brother did not contribute finanically, but we don't care becuase we know everything is correct. Also, brother and his wife are taking care of Mom, which is trememdous. The wife quit her job so she could stay home full time with mom, who lives with them. WOW. I don't know if I could do that.

So if your Grandma cannot afford to go to an attorney for the adendum, I don't see why one or all four of her kids can't help out with the cost.