Sometime circumstances change, and there is the need to review and modify the terms of a trust. This is not a difficult process if the trust is revocable, and the grantor is available to make the changes through an amendment or restatement of the trust.

However, after the grantor is unavailable or a trust has become irrevocable, modifications to the trust terms become more difficult. There are Minnesota laws which help address circumstances when changes are necessary to administer or interpret the trust, in order to fulfill the purpose of the trust.

One Minnesota statute that addresses this issue is statute section 501C.0111. This section provides rules for entering a nonjudicial settlement agreement for a trust. Essentially, the purpose of this statute is to allow the interested parties of the trust to enter into an agreement relating to modifications, interpretations or construction of a trust without seeking a court order. This allows the parties to address these issues or questions without going through the expense and time of court litigation.

Statute section 501C.0111 specifically allows the parties to enter an agreement addressing the following issues:

Any changes that are made to the trust must conform with the material purpose of the trust, and the changes must be something that a court would otherwise be authorized to approve.

This statute does not provide the interested parties with complete autonomy to change the terms of the trust that would eliminate the grantor’s intent. Rather, this is a very useful tool when the interested parties are having a difficult time determining how to implement and administer the specific instructions provided by the grantor in the trust.

After a nonjudicial settlement agreement is signed, any of the interested parties of a trust are able to have a court review the agreement if they feel the terms are invalid.

Balzarini is an attorney at law with Hellmuth & Johnson PLLC. Contact him at [email protected].