One of the significant distinctions between a family trust and a testamentary trust is that the ability to vary a testamentary trust is generally very limited after the testamentary trust comes into effect.
Obviously while the testamentary trust is incorporated into a will, where the will maker has yet to die, then this document may be varied at any time.
In contrast, once the will maker has died, the general position is that it cannot be amended without court consent.
One potential exception to this general position is that if the will allows variations to be made and if the variation relates only to administrative type issues (as opposed to the substantive provisions in the will), then there may in fact be the ability to vary the document.
** For the trainspotters, the title today is riffed from Bob Dylan’s song of the same name, arguably made famous by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, listen hear (sic):