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#2116471 - 02/01/17 04:34 PM Trusts - Help Please
Marisa Offline
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Joined: Apr 2016
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I have a customer requesting to add her POA to her account which is set up in a trust. She is trustee however the language in her trust reads "All of my reserved powers under this Declaration, including but not limited to the powers of amendment and revocation, are personal to me and shall not accrue to any other person, or to any guardian or conservator, nor shall they extend to my estate or my legal representative or to any other beneficiary". I read this as she is not able to add the POA without amending the trust. Am I not reading this correctly because she is telling me 18 other banks all did this for her? The trust does list a successor trustee who is not the POA.

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#2116478 - 02/01/17 04:53 PM Re: Trusts - Help Please Marisa
John Burnett Offline
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Trustees cannot add an attorney-in-fact (AIF) or other agent as an authorized signer on the trust's deposit account unless the trust instrument permits it. The language you have cited suggests she is the settlor/grantor of the trust and the trust, if revocable, can be amended. If she wants to have an AIF or agent authorized to act on her behalf, she should arrange with her attorney to amend the trust to permit it. Otherwise, her current AIF can only act on her behalf outside the trust.
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#2116485 - 02/01/17 05:00 PM Re: Trusts - Help Please Marisa
Marisa Offline
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Thank you John for verifying this. I have already explained this to her, but felt the need to double check when she said 18 other banks made this change for her.

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#2116534 - 02/01/17 06:38 PM Re: Trusts - Help Please Marisa
Skittles Offline
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It's kind of scary to think that she has actually banked at 18 other banks.
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#2116537 - 02/01/17 06:43 PM Re: Trusts - Help Please Marisa
John Burnett Offline
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John Burnett
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I'd be more concerned if 18 other banks actually made the change for her. I can easily imagine that she may have cowed one or two to make the change, but 18 is probably a bit of "puffery" on her part.
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#2116639 - 02/01/17 11:38 PM Re: Trusts - Help Please John Burnett
Elwood P. Dowd Offline
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Only an echo: if an attorney-in-fact has access to a trust, the trust agreement talks about the POA and the POA talks about the trust.
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#2116937 - 02/03/17 05:18 PM Re: Trusts - Help Please Marisa
LSmith Offline
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LSmith
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The trust must specifically state a POA can be used. Or she can set up another person either as a co-trustee or Successor Trustee. She can't have her cake and eat it too.

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