Haggerty v. Thornton

Summary

The court held that a revocable trust may be modified using any statutory or instrument-based revocation procedure unless the trust instrument makes a modification procedure exclusive or otherwise expressly precludes revocation procedures. Applying that rule, the court concluded that the trust amendment was valid even though it was not notarized as required by the trust's specified modification procedure, affirmed the Court of Appeal, and remanded for further proceedings. The court also held that its statutory construction applies to the dispute because judicial construction states what the statute meant before as well as after the decision.