Joint Trust Summary, Execution and Funding Instructions

For Washington and Oregon Users

Estate Plan Summary for Joint Revocable Trust plans

• A trust for a single beneficiary now reads "The trust will be administered…" rather than "Each trust…". It uses "his" or "her" when describing that beneficiary's power to redirect the trust.
• A trust created for a percentage share of the estate now lists its trustee.
• The Domestic Marital Trust now lists its own trustees. 
• When co-trustees are named, the Summary now says "the Co-Trustees … or either of them alone", or "or any combination thereof" for three or more. Each level of trustees is described by the number named at that level.
• The principal distribution sentence for every trust now ends "as the Trustee deems necessary or appropriate."
• In plans with a Children's Pot Trust, the trustee section now reads "for the benefit of your children" instead of running two phrases together.
• The organ donation sentence and the end-of-life care location are left out when those questions were not answered.
• The second spouse's agent paragraph now counts that spouse's own agents, and each spouse's own health care list refers to "his" or "her" Health Care Representative.
• Wording corrections:
  • "of the deceased spouse's share";
  • "to decide whether to donate";
  • "has provided specific wishes" (no longer "has has");
  • "then the" is no longer repeated;
  • "consent to or refuse any kind of medical treatment";
  • "unless specific items are left to others";
  • "and will pass according to the terms";
  • "among your descendants" (no longer "my descendants");
  • "If neither of the above is able to serve";
  • "by representation";
  • no comma between the Contingent Trustee's name and "to serve";
  • missing spaces before trust names.

Instructions for Funding Revocable Trust

• The personal property paragraph now reads "A general assignment of your personal property to your Trust is included in your execution package. Once you sign it, this part of funding will be complete."

Washington only

• Estate Plan Summary for Joint Revocable Trust plans: the Health Care Directive description now reads "diagnosed … to have an incurable and irreversible condition."

Oregon only

• Durable Power of Attorney: see the separate post, "Oregon: Durable Power of Attorney updates."
• Execution Instructions: the Pour-Over Will and Will sections now point to the Affidavit of Attesting Witnesses, which is the page the Oregon documents contain. They no longer mention a Declaration of Witnesses or a city-and-state blank.
• Instructions for Funding Revocable Trust: the bank account paragraph now explains that "Oregon's simple estate law allows that account to be transferred to your Trust after your death without a full probate."
• Disposition of Remains: an agent with no address on file now gets a blank line for the address, instead of stray commas.