Vanessa Bryant has been dealing with a number of legal issues since the passing of her husband and daughter. This past April, she co-petitioned the CA probate court to amend her husband Kobe’s irrevocable trust to include thier daughter Capri who was not added to trust as a named beneficiary before Kobe’s death.
So you may be wondering when exactly can an irrevocable trust be modified?
Under FL law, upon review of the facts and circumstances, irrevocable trust modification may be ordered by the court if necessary to carry out a material purpose of the trust in furtherance of the intent of the trust grantor and in the best interest of the trust beneficiaries. This can be proven by introducing extrinsic evidence relevant to the proposed modification that demonstrates the circumstances surrounding creation of the trust have significantly changed since its inception.
As the likely intent of the trust was to provide for the Bryant family children and Kobe amended the trust two times prior, I imagine the court will allow a 3rd trust amendment in this case if it finds that adding Capri as beneficiary is consistent with the material purposes of the trust and Kobe’s original intent when creating it.
