In my previous blog, Part II – Decanting, I addressed the option where a trustee exercises his or her discretion in making distributions for the benefit of a beneficiary and, rather than distribute the property from the trust outright, the trustee distributes property in further trust. This modification provides an alternative when the results intended by the original trust instrument cannot be successfully achieved as the trust is actually administered.

As a further safeguard to ensure a grantor’s intent is fully and faithfully executed, we now move to the top step in our ascending staircase of Trust Modification options: modification by Trust Protectors. 

In Part I of this blog series on Trust Modification, I addressed the first three (the simplest) modification options: Reformation, Procedural Modification and Equitable Deviation. Let’s continue up the stair steps to Part II and the more complex option of decanting. 

I’m not much of a golfer. In fact, when I’m asked if I play, I reply that golf gave up on me years ago. I appreciate the beauty of the game and the finesse that great players demonstrate, but my golf game required a great number of “Mulligans” for me to finish a round.

There are some parallels between golf and estate planning, especially as it pertains to errant strokes and missed opportunities that inevitably occur in golf and sometimes, in estate planning.