To laypersons, the term “irrevocable” trust suggests that, by definition, such trust cannot be revoked. Experienced practitioners, however, know that this is not exactly the case.
For example, EPTL §7-1.9, titled Revocation of Trusts, and its predecessor statutes1 have for many decades permitted a trust’s “settlor” or “creator,” with the beneficiaries’ consent, to amend and even revoke an otherwise irrevocable trust. This statute provides significant flexibility and freedom to settlors to reform or revise their estate plans should circumstances change that undermine or alter the settlor’s intended purpose in establishing the irrevocable trust in the first place. New York also permits trustees to make certain modifications to an irrevocable trust under New York’s decanting statute, EPTL §10-6.6.
