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personally altered the 1994 trust instrument to allow the
resigning trustee to appoint the successor trustee. At trial,
the following colloquy ensued:
ROBERT HOGUE: A trust is capable of amending any
and all parts of a trust, irrevocable or revokable. It
was amended that Robert Hogue be appointed by the
successor trustee. It’s Section 8 in this trust, the
evidentiary trust, that are being challenged today,
that the trustee for the prior years and the trustee,
which is Robert Hogue today, agreed on these facts, by
the moment of the minutes.
* * * * * * *
ROBERT HOGUE: Okay. A complex trust, Black’s Law
Dictionary, has full control, full discretion of the
minutes. So the two trustees got together, or the
original trustee, for these trusts got together and
appointed Robert Hogue as trustee.
It’s been brought into the trust through the
minutes from that period of time.
* * * * * * *
We changed the articles of the trust to read that
that trustee could appoint me as trustee.
* * * * * * *
RESPONDENT: The Tax Court’s opinion in, Judge
Halpern’s opinion in the 1995 case, * * * the second
article of that trust instrument * * * listed the sole
certificate holder as being Shasta Enterprises. Can
you explain to me how this document that you
represented to the Court is the trust instrument [the
altered trust instrument], contains a different
provision than the document [the 1994 trust instrument]
that was introduced into evidence [in Judge Halpern’s
case]?
ROBERT HOGUE: Absolutely. A trustee that has full
discretion can change any article of a trust at any
time. I placed them in there.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011