The First District Court of Appeal recently joined the widening chasm amongst California appellate courts concerning trust modification procedure. Probate Code section 15402 is seemingly straightforward, consisting of a lone sentence: “Unless the trust instrument provides otherwise, if a trust is revocable by the settlor, the settlor may modify the trust by the procedure for

[Editor’s Note: The California Supreme Court granted review of Haggerty v. Thornton on December 22, 2021 in Case No. S271483.  The Supreme Court is likely to resolve the conflict between Haggerty v. Thornton and King v. Lynch.  In the meantime, per the Supreme Court’s order, the Haggerty opinion remains citable.]

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