Deed of Amendment

What it is

A deed that changes the terms of a trust that already exists. Adding or removing beneficiaries, widening trustee powers, changing an age condition, or updating administrative machinery that has been overtaken by events.

How it works

• Everything depends on whether the trust deed itself contains a power to make the change. Wanting to change a trust is not the same as being able to.
• The deed identifies the power relied on, confirms who has to consent, and sets out precisely what is altered and what is left alone.
• Trusts drawn on the STEP standard provisions often allow trustees to adopt a later edition of those provisions, which is a tidy way of modernising administrative powers without disturbing the beneficial terms.
• Where there is no power, and the beneficiaries include minors or people who lack capacity, the route is an application to court under the Variation of Trusts Act 1958, and the court will only agree where the change benefits the person it is consenting for.

Where specialist advice matters

• Push an amendment too far and you have not amended the trust. You have created a new one, with all the tax consequences that follow.
• Changes to beneficial interests can be chargeable events. Changes to administrative powers usually are not. The line between the two is not always where people assume.
• Amendments almost always need reflecting on the HMRC trust register.
• If the original deed is missing or incomplete, that has to be dealt with first.