How Many Pages For Trust Documents?

[Midpack]

We established a revocable trust in 2020. We do not own a business, we don’t have kids and our property/assets are pretty standard.

Turns out we will need to update the documents in the next few months and I am debating whether to modify the existing trust or start anew. The existing documents total over 200 pages, 95 pages for the primary trust document, 64 pages of POAs and another 43 pages of supporting documents. That seems like overkill on overload, and I assume it's mostly boilerplate that our estate attorney uses for all his clients. I have NOT read all the documents...

My parents trust document was less than 25 pages for everything. And we executed that in 2018 with zero legal issues, so it served it's purpose.

Any thoughts on how many pages a trust should be?

 

[COcheesehead]

We don’t have a trust, but we just redid our estate documents, wills, POA, etc and it’s less than 20 pages for both of us.

 

[Dash man]

We established a revocable trust in 2020. Turns out we will need to update the documents in the next few months and I am debating whether to modify the existing trust or start anew. The existing documents total over 200 pages, 95 pages for the primary trust document, 64 pages of POAs and another 43 pages of supporting documents. That seems like overkill on overload, and I assume it's mostly boilerplate that our estate attorney uses for all his clients. I have NOT read the entire document...

My parents trust document was less than 25 pages for everything. And we executed that in 2018 with zero legal issues, so it served it's purpose.

Any thoughts on how many pages a trust should be?

Our binder has three trusts, POAs, wills, and healthcare directives. I haven’t looked, but it’s probably about 100 pages. I assume each state has their own requirements for language that bumps up the page counts.
I’m not charged by the page, so I really only care that it covers our needs. We used a specialized estate planning attorney and not a general attorney.
We’ve updated our trusts twice since 2017 and the trusts were renamed “THE AMENDED AND RESTATED REVOCABLE TRUST OF…”
The original trust creation date remains in effect. Updated versions obviously take precedence.

 

[MarieIG]

I would actually have to read it to even form an opinion as to whether it was overload.

Your description makes it sounds as if your attorney was trying to have an organized package ready for the trustee - but of course, this is mere speculation on my part. The length of trust documents can vary greatly depending upon the purpose of the trust, the local of the trust, the powers of the trustee, etc.

 

[MichaelB]

We have a trust, 2 wills, multiple POA’s and healthcare directives. Total is around 80 pages, with the trust itself 36 pages.

 

[OldShooter]

How long should a piece of string be?

 

[DEC-1982]

I am doing research before I set up an appointment with an attorney.

We (DW and I) have a will each, power-of-attorney each and health directive each. We did this several years back and nothing much has changed, except our desire to avoid probate.

I understand there are several reasons to go with a trust, revocable or irrevocable. Our main reason would be to avoid probate, and we are thinking in terms of a revocable trust. Would that trust or could that trust pretty much replace the will that we each have?

 

[COcheesehead]

I am doing research before I set up an appointment with an attorney.

We (DW and I) have a will each, power-of-attorney each and health directive each. We did this several years back and nothing much has changed, except our desire to avoid probate.

I understand there are several reasons to go with a trust, revocable or irrevocable. Our main reason would be to avoid probate, and we are thinking in terms of a revocable trust. Would that trust or could that trust pretty much replace the will that we each have?

You can avoid probate without a trust.

 

[DEC-1982]

You can avoid probate without a trust.

Thank you; I did not know that. I will research further on my own, and then contact the attorney and follow their advice.