Revocable Trust Amendment Requirements in Mississippi

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and revocability presumption

Miss. Code Ann. § 91-8-602 permits amendment unless the trust terms expressly provide that the trust is irrevocable. The default does not apply to a trust created under an instrument executed before July 1, 2014.

Who may amend or restate

The settlor ordinarily acts. Section 91-8-602 also permits an expressly authorized agent or a conservator or guardian acting with the supervising court's approval.

Miss. Code Ann. § 91-8-1201(a)–(d) separately lets the trust instrument give a trust advisor or trust protector powers to modify the instrument. The listed powers include tax-law and other law-change amendments, and the instrument may define additional authority.

Mississippi states no separate complete-restatement procedure. Replacing all operative terms is a comprehensive amendment subject to the same authority, method, written-delivery, capacity, and co-settlor rules.

Trust method and exclusivity

The settlor may substantially comply with a method in the trust. If the trust provides no method or does not expressly make its method exclusive, the statutory alternatives remain available.

Stating a method does not alone close the alternatives. The trust must expressly make the method exclusive to do that under § 91-8-602.

Alternative statutory method

One alternative is a later will or codicil that expressly refers to the trust or specifically devises property that otherwise would pass under it. The other is any method manifesting clear and convincing evidence of amendment intent.

Mississippi then narrows both alternatives for a written revocable trust: it may be amended only by a later written instrument delivered to the trustee. Clear intent alone without the later writing and delivery cannot amend a written trust.

Signature, witnesses, notary, and delivery

A written revocable trust requires a later written amendment instrument delivered to the trustee. Section 91-8-602 does not add a universal witness, acknowledgment, notarization, trustee-signature, or trustee-acceptance rule for that amendment.

The statute also states no fixed delivery deadline or signed-receipt form. The trust's own method can add further execution or delivery requirements.

Capacity standard

Miss. Code Ann. § 91-8-601 makes the capacity required to amend a revocable trust the same as the capacity required to make a will. It does not create a separate amendment-only cognitive formula.

Multiple settlors and contributed property

Both spouses must act jointly to amend community property in a multi-settlor trust. For other property, each settlor may amend the portion attributable to that settlor's contribution.

When fewer than all settlors revoke or amend, the trustee must promptly notify the other settlors. Section 91-8-602 also requires notice after one settlor's death, but that post-death rule is separate from a lifetime amendment's validity method.

Agent, guardian, conservator, and court authority

An agent may exercise amendment power only to the extent the trust or power of attorney expressly authorizes it. General management authority is not the express amendment authority stated in § 91-8-602.

A conservator or guardian may act only with approval from the court supervising that fiduciary proceeding. Appointment alone is insufficient.

Effective time, notice, and trustee protection

For a written trust, delivery of the later written instrument to the trustee is part of the amendment route. The statute does not require a signed acceptance. It separately requires prompt notice to other settlors when fewer than all act, but states no general beneficiary-notice rule for a lifetime amendment.

A trustee who does not know of an amendment is not liable to the settlor or the settlor's successors for distributions and other actions taken on the assumption that the old terms remained in effect.

An instrument-authorized trust advisor's or trust protector's exercise is binding on all other persons under § 91-8-1201(b). That rule does not give every protector amendment authority; the power must come from the trust terms.

What trips people up

• Stopping at clear intent. A written revocable trust still requires a later written instrument delivered to the trustee.
• Turning delivery into acceptance. Delivery is required; a signed trustee acknowledgment or agreement is not stated as a separate validity element.
• Assuming every co-settlor signs every change. Joint action applies to community property; other property follows each settlor's contribution.
• Adding mandatory notarization. Section 91-8-602 does not require a notary for every trust amendment.

Common questions

Can an oral statement amend a written Mississippi revocable trust?

No. Even though the statute recognizes a clear-and-convincing-intent route, it expressly limits amendment of a written revocable trust to a later written instrument delivered to the trustee.

Does the trustee have to sign the amendment?

Section 91-8-602 requires delivery to the trustee for a written trust, not a universal trustee signature, acknowledgment, or acceptance. The trust's own method may add one.

Can a guardian or conservator amend the trust?

Only with approval of the court supervising the guardianship or conservatorship.

Can a Mississippi trust protector amend the trust?

Only to the extent the trust terms grant the power. Section 91-8-1201 lists possible modification powers and makes an authorized exercise binding on all other persons.

Statutes and sources

• Miss. Code Ann. §§ 91-8-601 and 91-8-602 — capacity, revocability, methods and exclusivity, later writing and delivery, co-settlors, agent and court-supervised fiduciary authority, notice, and trustee protection. Official Mississippi 2014 SB 2727 signed bill (accessed 2026-08-10; current compiled text and later amendment sweep checked).
• Miss. Code Ann. § 91-8-1201 — instrument-granted trust advisor and trust protector modification powers, binding effect, and post-incapacity direction. Official Mississippi 2014 SB 2727 signed bill (accessed 2026-08-10).