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 5 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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