What Happens When You Skip Living Trust Updates for 5+ Years
You signed those papers five years ago, maybe ten. Your living trust felt like a huge accomplishment—one of those adult things you could finally check off your list. But here’s what most people don’t realize: that trust sitting in your filing cabinet might be causing more problems than it’s solving.
When you don’t update your living trust regularly, weird things start happening. Your carefully laid plans can fall apart in ways you never saw coming. Let me walk you through what actually goes wrong when time passes and life changes, but your trust documents stay frozen in the past.
Your Family Looks Different Now
Think about your family in 2020 versus today. New grandchildren, divorces, remarriages, deaths—your trust probably doesn’t reflect any of these changes. I’ve seen families discover their deceased son is still named as successor trustee, or worse, their ex-daughter-in-law still has access to family assets because nobody updated the paperwork.
Your beneficiaries change. Your trustees change. Sometimes the people you trusted most aren’t the right choice anymore. But your old trust doesn’t know that.
One client recently found out their trust still listed their estranged brother as the person who’d manage everything if something happened to them. They hadn’t spoken in eight years, but legally, he was still in charge. That’s not the kind of surprise anyone wants to leave their family.
Laws Keep Moving Without You
Tax laws shift constantly. What made sense for your situation five years ago might cost your family thousands today. The federal exemption amounts, state regulations, even basic trust administration rules—they all evolve while your documents stay the same.
In Texas, we’ve seen changes in homestead laws, business succession rules, and asset protection strategies. Your 2018 trust might be missing opportunities that could save your family serious money, or worse, it might be structured in ways that create unnecessary tax burdens.
Some trusts I review are so outdated that they’d actually trigger problems the family could easily avoid with simple updates. But you can’t fix what you don’t review.
Your Assets Don’t Match Your Trust
Here’s where things get really messy. You bought a new house, sold some property, opened investment accounts, and maybe started a business. But did you actually transfer all those assets into your trust? Most people forget this crucial step.
I see trusts that are supposed to avoid probate, but half the person’s assets were never appropriately titled in the trust’s name. The family thinks they’re protected, but they end up in probate court anyway because Dad never changed the deed on the rental property, or because Mom’s new bank account wasn’t transferred.
Your trust can only control what it actually owns. Everything else goes through the exact process you were trying to avoid.
Thinking about this for your situation? Let’s talk. We’ll walk you through your options—no pressure.
Medical directives and disability planning provisions in older trusts often reflect outdated thinking about healthcare and personal care. The person you chose to make medical decisions might no longer be available or appropriate.
Plus, your feelings about end-of-life care, long-term care preferences, and financial management during disability probably aren’t the same as they were years ago. But your trust documents still reflect your old priorities and fears.
The Real Cost of Doing Nothing
Outdated trusts create exactly the problems they were designed to prevent. Family conflicts over unclear instructions. Probate proceedings were necessary because assets weren’t properly held. Tax consequences nobody expected. Court battles over who has the authority to do what.
At The Greg Hall Law Firm, we regularly help families in Prosper and throughout Texas untangle messes that started with good intentions but outdated documents. The irony is painful—people create trusts to make things easier for their families, but neglecting to update them makes everything more complicated.
The families that avoid these problems are the ones who treat their trust like any other important part of their lives. They review it when major life events happen. They update it when laws change. They make sure it still reflects their actual wishes and current reality.
Your Next Step
Pull out your trust documents and look at the date. If it’s been more than 3 years since you last reviewed them with a legal professional, you’re probably due for updates. If it’s been five years or more, you’re almost certainly missing essential changes that could affect your family.
Don’t let your well-intentioned planning become a source of problems for the people you’re trying to protect. Your trust should evolve with your life, not stay stuck in the past.
Ready to update and get your trust working properly? Contact us today for a thorough review of your current documents and a straight talk about what needs to change. We’ll help you bridge the gap between where your trust is now and where it needs to be for your family’s future.