Names a third party with power to course-correct an irrevocable trust.
In short. A trust protector provision appoints a person, separate from the trustee, with limited powers to amend administrative terms, remove and replace trustees, or otherwise course-correct an irrevocable trust as circumstances change.
Irrevocable trusts last decades. Tax law changes. Beneficiaries' lives change. A trust protector is a non-trustee role designed to absorb that change without forcing a court reformation. The protector typically has a defined list of powers — replace a trustee, change the trust's situs, amend administrative terms, decant into a new trust — and exercises them as a fiduciary or in a non-fiduciary capacity, depending on how the document is drafted.
Families include a trust protector because the alternative — court intervention or a stuck trust — is slow and expensive. A protector gives the family a steering wheel without giving any single person full control over distributions.
Arizona recognizes the trust protector role under ARS § 14-10818. The statute treats protectors as having the powers granted in the trust instrument and presumes those powers are held in a fiduciary capacity unless the document expressly says otherwise. Arizona also has flexible decanting (ARS § 14-10819) and modification (ARS §§ 14-10410 through 14-10417) statutes that pair naturally with a protector role.
Documents that include a trust protector provision typically contain language along these lines: "The trust protector shall have the power, exercised by signed writing, to (a) remove and replace any trustee, (b) amend the administrative terms of this trust to respond to changes in tax law, and (c) change the situs and governing law of this trust." Descriptive only.
The most common failure is naming a beneficiary as protector and giving them broad enough powers to be treated as a substantial owner of the trust for tax or creditor purposes. A second failure is failing to name successors, leaving the role vacant when the original protector dies or resigns. A third pitfall is overlapping the protector's powers with the trustee's so much that decisions stall on which fiduciary is supposed to act.
This page describes how this clause works in general terms. It is not legal advice and not a drafting template. Whether a clause like this belongs in your plan depends on your family, your assets, and your goals. Drafting is performed by partner attorneys we work with.