June 27, 2025
Trust Reformation and the Trustee’s Fiduciary Duties
Equity looks at the substance of an undertaking, not to its form. Consequently, the equitable proceeding for a trust’s reformation can be a powerful remedy to use, especially now that the MCL 700.7415 permits such a reformation, even if the trust’s terms are unambiguous, and even if the mistake was in fact or in law, and whether the mistake was in expression or inducement. Less clear, so far anyway, is who has legal standing to assert the trust reformation remedy, now that courts are no longer strictly adhering to privity to the transaction. Probably more clear is that a trustee should not be filing any trust reformation proceedings in light of the trustee’s many fiduciary duties associated with the trust- as written.
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