Trust Decanting: Definition and How It Works in California

By Eric Ridley, attorney, Ridley Law. Updated September 2026.

Trust decanting is a trustee’s power to move assets from an existing irrevocable trust into a new trust with updated terms, without asking the original beneficiaries to agree to every change.

How it works in California

California adopted the Uniform Trust Decanting Act, codified at Prob. Code, §§ 19501 through 19530, which sets out when and how a trustee can decant. Trust decanting in California depends on the trustee’s discretion under the original trust and on notice to the people the statute requires.

How much a trustee can change depends on the discretion the original trust gives them over distributions. A trustee with broad discretion can generally decant into a trust with more flexible terms; a trustee bound to a narrow, fixed standard has less room to change the substance of the trust.

Decanting is not a way around the settlor’s basic intent. It is meant to fix drafting problems, adapt to a beneficiary’s changed circumstances, or update outdated administrative provisions, not to redirect who ultimately benefits.

Why it matters

For example, a trust drafted decades ago with no provision for a beneficiary’s later disability can sometimes be decanted into a version that protects public benefits eligibility, without going back to court to reform the document.

Common mistakes

Trustees sometimes assume decanting lets them change beneficiaries outright, when the statute limits how far a trustee can depart from the original distribution scheme. Others skip the notice the statute requires, which can undo the decanting later.

Related terms

• Fiduciary Duty: the obligation a trustee owes when deciding whether to decant.
• Irrevocable Trust: the type of trust decanting usually modifies.
• Living Trust: often becomes irrevocable, and therefore eligible for decanting, at the settlor’s death.
• Trustee: the only party with the power to decant.
• Trust Protector: a person with limited powers over a trust, separate from the trustee.

Part of the California estate planning glossary. For the full treatment, see Trust Decanting in California: A Trustee’s Guide.