The Supreme Court has reversed decisions of the Superior Court and Orphans’ Court and held that a trust modification with the consent of the settlor under 20 Pa.C.S. §7740.1(a) may change the provisions of a trust relating to the appointment of trustees, and allow the beneficiaries to remove and replace trustees. In re: Trust under Deed of Walter R. Garrison, ___ Pa. ___, 288 A.3d 866, 61 MAP 2022, 62 MAP 2022, and 63 MAP 2022 (1/19/2023), rev’g  1429 EDA 2020 (Pa. Super. 9/27/2021) (non-precedential), and 10 Fid.Rep.3d 189 (Montgomery O.C. 2020).

[DBE Comment: As previously noted, the consent of the settlor should have made a difference, and the court was able to distinquish its previous decision in Trust under Agreement of Edward Winslow Taylor, 649 Pa, 649, 164 A.3d 1147 (Pa. 2017), which involved a trust modification without the consent of the settlor under 20 Pa.C.S. § 7740.1(b), and not a trust modification with the consent of the settlor under 20 Pa.C.S. § 7740.1(a).]

[DBE Note: There seems to be a typographical error in the slip opinion, J-57A-C-2022mo. On page 12, the court states, “First, section 7740.1(a) involves unified action by all interests in a trust, i.e., settlor and all trustees, to revoke or modify an otherwise irrevocable trust.” I believe the word “trustees” should be “beneficiaries.”]