If an amendment to a living Trust document has been notarized but the date on the document is the incorrect year, is the document legal and binding?
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If an amendment to a living Trust document has been notarized but the date on the document is the incorrect year, is the document legal and binding?
The amendment was notorized and it in 2 places on the document the year is
incorrect; it is 1 year earlier than the actual year it was signed. I need to know if this document is binding?
Asked on June 11, 2018 under Estate Planning, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
It depends upon whether from the document as a whole and/or from the circumstances of its signing, a court could determine what the actual year should be. The law does not invalidate legal documentsfor harmless errors or typos; so long as it can determine the actual intent of the parties--what they mutually wanted the document to say--a court will "reform" or correct the document rather than invalidate it. So if there is sufficient evidence of the correct year, the document will be legal and binding.
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