Healthcare agent withholding father’s ashes unless daughter signs agreement with waivers and strict conditions

This concerns my husband’s family in California. We are seeking attorney review, but I would appreciate help understanding the issues, whether this falls within probate litigation or another specialty, and whether pursuing a legal challenge is likely to be practical or worthwhile.

My father-in-law recently passed away. His advance healthcare directive names his sister as agent and authorizes her to direct disposition of his remains. His daughter is his only biological child; my husband is his stepson, whom he raised.

The agent collected the cremated remains without notifying his daughter or my husband. Both recall an earlier conversation in which she said his daughter would be contacted to collect them.

The family wants to scatter his ashes in Hawaii, which his daughter says she discussed directly with her father. The agent says he privately instructed her to ensure prompt placement at the base of a tree and feared his ashes would remain on a mantel. The directive contains no specific instructions about a tree, location, deadline, or conditions for releasing the ashes.

The agent has now sent his daughter a proposed agreement, saying it was prepared by her attorney. She will release the ashes only if the daughter signs and meets conditions including:

• Providing verified travel arrangements before release.
• Completing a specified permit process with the agent and paying the fees.
• Meeting a January release deadline and scattering all remains by the end of January.
• Obtaining the agent’s written consent to change the scattering date or location.
• Providing photographs, a continuous unedited video with original date/time metadata, travel records, and a statement under penalty of perjury confirming placement.
• Accepting provisions concerning continued agent authority, return of the remains, waiver of certain claims, indemnification, and prevailing-party attorney’s fees.

The agreement gives the agent discretion to deny extensions, including for county permit delays, while allowing herself additional time “as soon after as practicable” if she carries out the scattering instead.

These demands are causing extreme stress for my husband and his sister while they are grieving. They simply want to honor their father’s wishes and lay him to rest. We are also concerned about potential weather-related travel disruptions during the current El Niño period, because the agreement leaves extensions to the agent’s discretion.

Multiple close friends may also be able to provide written statements describing what he personally told them about his wishes.

The daughter has not signed and does not intend to accept these terms.

I’m seeking general information to help us prepare for attorney consultation, rather than a definitive ruling on the agreement.

My 16 adopted foster daughter is long declared Intellectually Disabled and recently also Autistic by school testing only. She's not medically diagnosed (working on it, but it takes considerable time). I don't believe she currently meets the criteria for a Special Needs Trust. But she won't drive, will need long term support (managing finances, living alone, won't drive, employment support, etc.) Today, we are in our late 50s with a half million dollar house, a studio to be left to our niece (~value 350k) and maybe $500k in other assets ($160k land property, 401k, roth IRA)- trying to plan for both our retirement and her long term care. Our daughter also has bio-vultures. I read about a testamentary trust that could be created upon our death protect her until we get a formal diagnosis. We are currently property rich, but cash poor, and this seems complex. What we don't want is for her to lose our house, especially due to a lengthy of probate in case something happens now, but I don't think we can afford to have 10 trips to the lawyers office to manage different statuses. And should a family member be fiduciary and conservator or better to separate these roles? I'm not confident in our family members who've said they'd step up...they are loving but even less knowledgable than I am and poor financial managers. We are in the state of Colorado, and our family is in Texas. Advice?

It’s my dad, mom, and me living in the house. It’s under my dad’s name and they want it under mine due to his health. We’ve heard a trust is the way to go but I want to REALLY make sure so it doesn’t come back to bite us later

I’m single and unmarried but idk if that will change later on, any advice? We live in NC

Location: California

I found out my father passed away last week. I have received two somewhat varying descriptions of his passing but basically he was dead in his trailer for at least a few days while his bathtub water was running. What is certain is that the trailer is covered in mold inside and other "fluids".

My father owned this trailer but had it parked in a mobile home park where he paid lot rent. I am his only next of kin. I am also 8 hours away.

I have tried to do research but this is my first time dealing with death. I don't believe my father's "estate" will trigger a probate. He had that trailer, an old paid off van, I think a storage unit, and whatever is in his bank account (s?). Which I'm guessing is next to nothing. My father and I were not close and I saw him about once every five years so my exact knowledge of his life is very limited.

And I will say this, I also have basically nothing to my name.

I am not worried about anything having to do with inheritance or monetary gain. My main question is about his trailer. It is not salvageable and should be destroyed. From what I read because it is a biohazard, it can't just be junked. It has to be professionally decontaminated first. I absolutely do not have the money for that or any junking process after.

I was told that if there is no money to be gained or there's no money in the "estate" to pay things off that essentially I'm not responsible for the trailer. And that eventually the mobile home park company will have to be the ones to take care of it. Is any of that true? Will I get sued or anything if I just leave the trailer there? I know that since his lot rent will not be getting paid, something would happen there but I'm not sure what.

I would greatly, greatly appreciate any help at all regarding the legal responsibilities and pocesses after someone passes. Trying to deal with this while being 8 hours away is extremely difficult and the people I have talked to so far do not seem particularly forthcoming with what is happening and what I'm supposed to do.

I appreciate any help

I'm in Alberta, Canada and I'm trying to decide whether to handle probate myself or hire a lawyer, who has quoted around $5,000–$6,000.

The estate (after debts) isn't very large, so I'd like to avoid taking a big chunk out of my siblings' and my inheritance if I can reasonably do it myself.

I've looked at the Alberta probate forms, and they seem fairly straightforward, but the lawyers I've spoken to don't recommend doing it without legal help. Now I'm not sure what to think!

For anyone who's done it themselves in Alberta:

How difficult was the process?

Were the forms and instructions easy to follow?

Did you run into any major problems or delays?

Looking back, would you do it yourself again or hire a lawyer?

I'd really appreciate hearing about your real-life experiences, good or bad. I'm just trying to make an informed decision and keep costs down without creating problems for the estate.

Thanks!

California estate planning attorney here. I used to work at a larger firm where staff handled the will witnessing, so how to staff the witnesses never even came up. Now that I’m a solo practitioner, I don’t have employees, and I hold signings in a rented conference room.

My plan is for me (the drafting attorney) to serve as one disinterested witness on the pour-over wills, and the notary to serve as the second.

My question is: does this look bad or unprofessional to clients, judges, or other attorneys? Is this common among solos, or do most of you bring in a separate witness?

How do other solo practitioners handle witnesses?

Thanks!

edit: We do have an EIN for the trust but she has not filed the taxes. We will be working with a CPA to get the taxes taken care of.

My mother passed 5 years ago and my sister was the successor trustee. We had the trust created in a haste because my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer and we only had weeks to help her make an estate plan. We understand the trust became irrevocable after her passing.

Funds have been disbursed to all adults. The remaining funds are for the benefit of two great-grandchildren, currently ages 8 and 10. The trust states they get the funds at age 25. Because they are my grandchildren, my sister no longer wishes to serve as trustee and would prefer to transfer that job to me. (I am specifically listed to be a successor trustee if my sister cannot or is no longer willing to serve in that capacity.)

My questions:

1. Were we supposed to have an attorney do some type of amendment at my mother's death to document that she passed and it is now an irrevocable trust or is that assumed with a copy of the death certificate?
2. I do not believe my sister ever obtained an EIN for the trust, I think she just kept filing under my mom's SSN. I spoke with my bank today about moving the money to investment accounts and they said I need an EIN. Will we need to file this year under my mom's SSN and then under the EIN starting in 2027, or do we need to file two tax returns for 2026?
3. How do I ensure that the children do not have access until age 25? Everything I read about CUTMA/UTMA accounts says age 18 or 21? Will that be noted when we open the investment account since it is documented in the original trust?
4. It looks like my sister and I can just execute a notorized document changing the trustee from her to me, but I read we need to notify the remaining beneficiaries, do we send letters to the 8 and 10 year old or to their parents?

We would really like to not pay an attorney because my husband and I have already paid over $7,000 for our own trust planning this year after our first attorney was incompetent and we had to hire someone else to review it and remedy the errors.

How do I prepare TOD documents to transfer my house to my beneficiary without moving to a revocable trust?

Looking for any advice on how to salvage anything from this disaster.

TL:DR: I believe mom is being manipulated by sister via new hospice meds that started Friday (10/9), leading to mom suddenly changing an 18 year old will (2008) where I was named executor, and giving everything to my sister who is "taking care of her." Sister is now covering their tracks to delete and hide damning information that run 100% opposite of the current situation.

This can be a book, so I'll hit the highlights. It's an AMAZING rug-pull.

Mother is dying (diagnosed with cancer everywhere), dad is dead. A will has been in place for 18+ years. I am executor. Her wishes are to split estate 50/50 with sibling. House value ~600k, used car worth 15k, unknown value of all tools/house contents/etc, and ~200k in liquid bank accounts that I know about (there is one other hidden from me, but I'll get to that.)

Sibling (50F) has been bailed out by parents 3x over the last 30 years because of incredibly bad life decisions and a raging gambling problem. Parents have spent easily 200k+ on her. She most recently blew a 220k insurance payout after my bro-in-law decided to self-delete. She is an awful and disgusting human being with one goal - to hit the lottery. He was too good for her.

In July of this year I flew up see my mom, and she asked me to go on her 200k bank account as a joint owner - knowing I'd use it for the estate and probate process. She did not put me on the other account (different bank) that she shares with my sister because , "There's not much in it anyway."

Sister/boyfriend (2nd boyfriend since the bro-in law died - the 1st boyfriend also self-deleted by same action) moved back in with mom in July for her 5th attempt at co-habiting "to help out mom." What she really meant was to "help mom out of her money." Think Janice from the Sopranos.

5 days ago I flew up to NJ again to spend time with mom as she's slowly starting to deteriorate. Since I live 12+ hrs away by car, we decided before I got there that we would discuss the will with the intent to have everything figured out and mom could be there to referee.

Sister crocodile-teared up before we even discussed anything, exclaiming, "ALL I WANT IS 80k SO I CAN GET OUT OF DEBT." I told her absolutely not and countered with me taking 37% (mostly cash acct) and she could have 63% of the estimated estate value with close to 85% of the equity in the house to fix her life up. A backup plan was 45/55% house equity split and estate account split 50/50. I came up with these ideas mainly on the fly since I couldn't even estimate the estate's true value, plus the sneakiness of hiding that other bank acct. Either way, my sister could have walked away in FAR better shape than the arbitrary 80k she crowed about through those fake tears.

Sister became "exhausted" so the 1h struggle session ended without any agreement. Even her new boyfriend (hope he doesn't decide to self-delete) told her these terms are absolutely amazing and would let her rebuild her life. At this point mom started to get tired, so we left for the day.

Here's where it starts getting nutty.

Came back next day and I was immediately attacked by my mother for not "taking care of family." She further stated that she made my sister move in for help and that she was scared she'd leave my mom to fend for herself if she didn't get what she wanted. For the millionth time, I told her to come live with me, but she refused. I asked my mom what she wanted and was told I should use the estate acct to carry my sister for at least 2 years for "her to get back on her feet" and then we sell the house if she wanted to leave. I said that was an AWFUL idea, but let's get her back to the table and we'd discuss. Sister happened to still be "exhausted" from the prior day and refused to talk. Continued the visit until late afternoon and then left with a nagging thought that my mother is being manipulated with the hospice meds, but I'd figure out more tomorrow.

Next morning comes and right before I'm about to leave and head over to my mom's house, I get a phone call. It's my mom.

She tells me something to the effect of, "I had an epiphany last night. I'm removing you from the will. Your sister will get everything. Don't come over. I'll see you when I see you."

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm, WHAT?

I went over anyway. There was a spirited conversation between me and my mother - and sister -until I shooed her away. Halfway through rehashing this nonsense, I noticed my mom having the same look I've seen on a hundred elderly people - the empty, blank stare they get when they have no idea wtf is going on, and they start repeating the same thing. It was useless to try to talk about anything with her. When medicated or elderly get like this, communication is non-existent. Backstory - I was a cop for over 25 years.

Fast forward to today. Went through texts and FB messenger to find the texts/msgs over the last 5-6 years where my mom repeatedly said that she knew I'd do the right thing regarding the will, that my sister was an evil, manipulative B, but also how she needed her there to take care of her and didn't want to piss her off because she'd have no help.

Guess what happened to those very relevant and damning messages? DELETED by my sister, but thank god my wife has a whole bunch of them as they were actively being deleting as we searched the histories. My mom is completely illiterate with that stuff and has other crap to worry about.

My joint bank acct was drained and closed. I know I could've taken out the money myself had I been a scumbag, but I ain't. The bank account went largely into a cashier's check, and another check for "debt payoff." My mom had no debt.

Something was filed at the city clerk's office which I ASSUME was a quitclaim deed to put the house in my sister's name.

TL;DR2: This was the rug-pull of the century. Spent well over $1k on plane tickets, a car rental, food, etc, and in the end greed, manipulation, and straight evil wins the day. I really hope the casino enjoys the $800k+ of house, bank accounts, and anything else she can squeeze out of people.

California resident. I am seeking guidance in securing my disabled son’s future after we (his parents) pass. We have saved as much money as possible, no debts, IRA and 401(a) and 457(b) accounts with Mag 7 investments all doing well. Problem is, we want to ensure he is cared for by his sister and not put in a group home. She has a do-nothing husband and fully supports him financially, which we are very disappointed in. Is there a way to secure the inheritance to prevent her from using it for the husband or just dumping our son in a home. She says she will help him, but how can we guarantee it with financial incentives? Any ideas are welcome. Thanks.

I’m a beneficiary of a trust. It is farmland that is rented out and generates roughly 100K yearly. My father is currently primaru income beneficiary. I am remainder beneficiary upon his death. however there is a HEMS clause that states that the trustee has full discretion to provide distributions for “health, education, maintenance and emergencies.” how much can I reasonably request in distributions? Should I get an attorney involved?

Indiana

Hey guys! I need your advice.I live in Kenya, Nairobi. So my dad died last month and i wasn't in communication with him for 18 years rn I'm 26 years old. So my uncle found me and told me he's sick and I must go see him which I was reluctant because it was out of the blue...this was around July. They told me I should go fight for my inheritance, which I wasn't interested in because I barely knew the man. I went to the funeral but as one of his kids I wasn't in his eulogy which kinda hurt. Now they were to call me and tell me more about his will and if he left anything for him. I called my uncle and he told me I need to know all his properties which he never showed up. Now he's claiming that I shouldn't be given anything since we were never in communication. I can't afford a lawyer to stall the succession process. So should I give up my inheritance since majority of succession disputes end up badly?

I am in Wash state, U.S.: A friend left me an IRA back in 2017. Since this was pre 2019, I don’t have to empty it within 10 years, so I am only taking RMDs. (My friend was at RMD age when she died so first year was at a level based on her age, and since then at a level based on mine.)

I have listed a sibling as beneficiary. Since she is less than 10 years of my age, she would be exempt from the 10 year thing, as well. She’d have to take RMDs the same way I did…but nothing about who I inherited it from would have any bearing for her.

Is that correct?

This is for Virginia. My mom passed away in her apartment and, as part of that discovery, it came to light that there is a bed bug infestation and it's to the point that the city has now declared her apartment uninhabitable.

She did not have a will, she has little to no assets aside from what is in the apartment, and has been working with a credit counseling service.

How vital is it to look for financial papers? My sibling and I have a call out to a probate lawyer, but while we are waiting to hear back we have to decide if we want to dig through her (infested) stuff or just bag and trash everything.

Hey everyone, looking for a reality check here to see if my frustration is justified or if I'm expecting too much. I'm just a client and have no legal background, so please bear with me.

I'm in Southern California and originally used an estate planning law firm back in 2019 to set up my living trust and transfer my properties (my parents had previously used them to set up their estates and wills before they passed).

This past spring I found out that the original documents they drafted had several big structural errors (they failed to set it up as a joint trust with my spouse, messed up an account number in the MoU, and omitted required sub-trust provisions). So, I had to pay them again this year to review and fix their own previous mistakes.

As part of fixing everything, they drafted a new grant deed to put my primary residence into the trust. I got a letter from the county last week saying the legal description was in error and it turns out that they accidentally pasted the legal description and APN for a a different property I own (a condo I rent out) onto the deed for my primary residence.

When I brought this up, a staff member forwarded me an internal email where their employee admitted to using the wrong legal description from a 33-page title report packet during drafting in April 2026.

So, just now, when I talked to the firm's representative about getting this corrected, the lawyer who I worked with this year (who was different from the original attorney who made the mistakes back in 2019):

1. Refused to admit it was their drafting mistake and tried to blame my old escrow company (even though their own employee confessed in writing that she misread the title packet).
2. Acted like fixing it was doing me a "huge favor."
3. Aggressively demanded I pay a $30 county re-recording fee to file the corrected deed.
4. Spoke to me in a defense and aggressive tone, and argued with me when I questioned paying for their error.

I'll admit, I was very irritated and frustrated as well and was having trouble keeping calm. I had sent them a message this morning asking them to kindly expedite things this week, and the admin from the office called in the afternoon and told me I could come by tomorrow to sign. All good.

But then she called me back to "remind me to bring the letter from the county and my checkbook to pay the $30 filing fee. This set me off because I was assuming that they would be paying any further fees that came up due to this being their error. Then the lawyer jumps into the phone and starts haranguing me for making an issue out of this "$30 fee" and said it "ridiculous".

At this point I really had to reel in my temper because I just want to get this done - so I had to bite my tongue and resist the temptation to get into an even more intense and unconstructive yelling match with this lawyer (who was most definitely yelling at me over the phone).

Obviously this is not about the $30 - it's the principle. I paid this firm to fix their 2019 errors, they turned around and made a new clerical error on my deed, and then yelled at me and are making me pay the filing fee to correct their own mistake.

So, am I right to be upset here and demand an apology from management, or is this just "the way it goes" in real estate/estate planning that I need to accept?

I doubt there's much I can do beyond sending their management a complaint letter and not using them again. But suffice it to say, I'm not impressed by this firm and the way do business.

In New York State (USA), if a person dies intestate with no spouse or issue and their only distributees are two parents, is the estate distributed equally between the two parents irrespective of their relationship to the child? For example, let's say an adult with a mother and a father dies intestate and the dead person hadn't seen their father since they were a small child and the father did not pay child support or even see the child for decades.

Would there be a way for a surviving parent to ensure they got more from their child's estate than the deadbeat parent? TIA.

ETA: The comment count is up to 16 but I only see 3 included the modbot comment?

I am in year two of trying to settle my brother’s estate. Not only am I his personal representative, I am the sole beneficiary.

The first year was spent securing the estate, maintaining bills and putting the house up for sale. Once the house sold earlier this year I’ve been trying to settle up his retirement accounts. Unfortunately, the majority of these accounts did not have a specified beneficiary, and the estate is the beneficiary. I have been dealing with Alight, Charles Schwab, JP Morgan Chase, Acensus, Empower, and Fidelity.

So far the absolute worst have been JPMorganChase and empower. They keep finding ways to try to delay the distribution. It’s gotten so bad I’ve had to bring in the estates lawyer to try to get this done.

Anyone have any experience with a good elder care lawyer who deals with trust distribution and offers free initial consult in MA? (preferably Middlesex County, but not required.)

I live out of state, but am personal representative for a MA estate, so I would need someone who offers Zoom consultations.

Thanks in advance.

My sister, who lived in New Jersey, died less than a year ago, at 73. She had original Medicare. Her only income was Social Security. Because of her advanced cancer diagnosis and the possibility of nursing home care, she applied and was approved for Medicaid. She had one overnight hospital stay and six months of outpatient cancer treatment. She died at home after three days of hospice.
Her estate consists of her home and two outbuildings on less than two acres of undeveloped land and a 15 year old car. Her married daughter and two children live on the property as well and have been there for 15 years. Her will leaves the property to her daughter who is also executor.
Medicaid recently sent a letter and claims that the estate owes $35,000 and, if unpaid, they will place a lien against the property. We understood that this could happen but she lost the battle very quickly and all of her treatment would have been covered by Medicare. We don’t have this money and my niece and her family have nowhere to go. I want to help my niece appeal the charge but we seem stuck in a loop between the debt and probate which she has opened. I’m just hoping to get some advice about next steps. Thank you.

I am a beneficiary of a trust established under Tennessee law. My siblings and I each have separate trusts created under the same governing document. Our mother was originally intended to serve as trustee, but she passed away when we were young. All beneficiaries are now in our forties with families.

Currently, our 80-year-old aunt serves as trustee. The trust document permits the trustee to resign at any time and appoint each beneficiary as the trustee of their respective trust. Serving as our own trustees is clearly in our best financial interest, as it would eliminate administrative friction and trustee fee deductions. However, our aunt refuses to resign or appoint us. Under the current terms, if she passes away without appointing us, a corporate trustee will succeed her.

The document also names a trust protector with broad powers to amend trust provisions and to remove and appoint trustees.

Question: If our aunt passes away without appointing us, what legal, fiduciary, or tax reasons might lead the trust protector to appoint a corporate trustee rather than appointing each of us as our own trustee?

Now that we're seriously shopping for someone to set up a SNT and associated stuff in California, one thing that's seriously surprised me is these law offices that ask you to pay their hourly rate before any kind of discussion whatsoever. They won't tell me their typical fee schedule or ballpark ranges, they won't tell me their firm's process, or really anything at all. One of them told me over the phone that I should check out their YouTube channel if I needed any information. (At least it wasn't TikTok.)

The smallest fee I've been asked for was $500, and the largest was $750, so far. I am able to afford these fees, but I'm not able to afford frittering it away.

I have trouble even politely declining these requests. Who could ever afford this, other than the obscenely rich or people extremely bad with money? Like, how can I send this much money down the drain on someone I'm not even sure I can afford, or even is a good fit for what I need? What is even the point of meeting a lawyer who hasn't been able to review your case by asking for proper intake materials?

I've seen lawyers say, "Well, I like my clients to have some skin in the game, to weed them out." But why should this responsibility be entirely on the client? More to the point, since hopefully the attorney is an expert in their area, why don't they have the infrastructure to do some basic pre-screening upfront?

There are some law offices I've contacted that do have varying amounts of intake prior to asking for money. The two we've booked so far (one for a separate matter, $800 for one and $400 for the other) both had actual intake processes, and have both asked for extensive information and documents prior to the initial consult. It feels very credible and I believe I'll receive value for my money.

Is there any reason I should bother with these other firms that just want the hourly rate, case site-unseen? Or should I understand this to basically mean they aren't looking for new clients unless you're really willing to spend? (For what it's worth, I'm a clean slate client, and I have what I believe to be a very standard and straightforward SNT setup situation.)

This happened in the state of New Hampshire. My elderly family member had arranged for a neighbor to care for their cat after they passed away.

While my family member was still alive, they gave the neighbor $15k-$20k and also named them in their will to inherit a significant additional sum.

The cat is not mentioned in the will.

Just one week after my family member passed away, the neighbor had the cat euthanized, claiming it had a terminal illness. The cat had been taken to the vet regularly, sometimes monthly and my family member never mentioned any illness or chronic health issues.

I’m incredibly angry and concerned that my family member was manipulated.

Does the family have any legal recourse to challenge the inheritance or recover the money, particularly if the estate has already been distributed?

I essentially have two questions I'm hoping y'all can help me with. First is, after reading below, do I have a decent grasp on what I'm dealing with? And second, how can I use the funds from an irrevocable trust, with HEMS, to get my financial affairs in order? Thank you!

This is in Kansas. My mother is probably going to pass in the next few weeks and her assets, about $180,000 to me by the time all is said and done, is going into an irrevocable trust of which I'll be both the trustee and beneficiary. The trust specifies distributions using HEMS and a 5% annual disbursement without qualification. I'm just starting to try and understand what all that means for my future. It's not a totally life changing amount of money, but it is a sizeable chunk to get some things going in my life. I am married with two kids, but they are not beneficiaries.

I own a home that needs repairs and updates and I also have a fair amount of credit card debt, federal taxes owed that are on payment plans, and car debt (both mine and my wife's for which I am on the title).

In an ideal world, I would like to use the trust money to pay off debts and make needed repairs to my home. I'm fairly certain HEMS allows me to pay off my car and make the repairs to my home, but what I'm uncertain about is how I can use HEMS to pay off preexisting debts. Worst case scenario, I think I'm allowed to use the trust to take over my mortgage payments which frees up my own money to pay down debts.

I'm not looking for a way to game the system, but I'm hoping the standard is flexible enough to allow me to get my financial house back in order.

I will become the sole trustee of a spendthrift trust for my brother when the trust grantor passes.

Part of the trust assets are stock shares

When these shares have to be sold to provide yearly distributions for the beneficiary of the trust what will be the cost basis of the shares sold

I have an existing revocable living trust in the state of Maryland. My son "Steve Smith" is the beneficiary and my daughter "Jane Doe" is the co-trustee. It is titled
John Smith Revocable Trust
John Smith Trustee
Jane Doe Trustee
It is unclear to me if when the grantor of the living trust passes, the title of the trust must be formally changed from the name of the grantor of the trust to the name of the beneficiary and the surviving trustee
Steve Smith Irrevocable Trust
Jane Doe Trustee
If so, must the new title include Irrevocable Trust or can it just be titled Steve Smith Trust?
Thanks for your help in clarifying this