Update or dissolve living trust before moving overseas? DIY?
Financial newbie & USA citizen here researching moving to South America. I have a revocable living trust set up many years ago with an attorney and had it amended once since then when I moved states. Now I've moved states again and haven't updated it since. I'm also switching my accounts over from Fidelity to Schwab so that part of the trust needs updating (account numbers and such). Third big life update is that I'm hoping to move to South America later this year and I'm not sure what changes (if any) need to be made in my trust to reflect this.
As I see it, my options are (a) amend the trust myself; (b) dissolve the trust entirely, update beneficiaries in my brokerage, IRAs, & bank accounts, and set up POA/will documents; (c) pay an attorney $2K-ish to make updates to my trust. I don't have real estate holdings and have no dependents, so at this point even having a living trust feels like unnecessary overhead for my needs? I'm also tired of paying attorneys $2K every few years to make updates (much prefer to DIY wherever possible). Yet dissolving the trust entirely seems extreme too.
If anyone has wrestled with a similar life situation, would love any input on which direction you chose and/or your thoughts on above? TIA!
Posted Apr 24, 2026, 8:30 PM UTC