This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

The Omega Trust was established by an executed trust agreement on December 30, 2005, by the grantor, Mark Frank Douglas. The Omega Trust was twice amended, once in June 2015 and once in September 2015. The Grantor reserved the right at any time or from time to time without the consent of any person and without notice to any person other than the Trustee to revoke or modify the trust hereby created, in whole or in part, to change the beneficiaries hereof, or to withdraw the whole or any part of the trust estate by filing notice of such revocation, modification, change, or withdrawal with the Trustee; provided, however, that the terms of this agreement may not be modified by the Grantor in such manner as to increase the obligations or alter the rates of the commissions of the Trustee without its written consent. The agreement also stated: This trust agreement may be executed in any number of counterparts with the same effect as if all of the parties had signed the same document. All counterparts shall be construed together and shall constitute one agreement. The grantor informed his Trust Protector that he was in poor health and asked her for assistance “in preparing the Third Amendment” to the Omega Trust. He informed her “of the changes that he planned to make, and she assisted him in drafting an email to his attorney … to make the changes to the trust.” The grantor also informed the trustee “that he was making changes to [the Omega] Trust and he was contacting his attorney to amend” the same. The grantor emailed his attorney about updating his estate plan documents, including “his desire to amend the [Omega] Trust, with specific instructions on what he wished to do,” and informed the attorney of his “significant health issues.” The grantor wished to add successor trustees and successor trust protectors,” and to include four additional beneficiaries. On August 12, his attorney responded “with some questions about the changes requested.” On August 16, the attorney sent an email to the grantor that “summarized and confirmed the current actions to be taken regarding [the grantor's] estate plan,” and indicated that his law firm was “working on the revised documents now.” The attorney explained that the firm “will prepare an Amendment to the Omega Trust,” and noted the changes that the trust would reflect including, among other things, the distribution of tangible property and trust shares. The email summary also provided for changes to some of the grantor's other trusts. The grantor replied: “Very nice job, there are just a few suggested changes as noted below.” That night, the attorney responded that the firm “will prepare the revised documents accordingly.” On August 18, the grantor died without having signed the Third Amendment. P sought a declaration by the court that the series of emails between the grantor and his attorney constituted a valid third amendment to the Omega Trust. The special trustee of the Omega Trust (D) filed a motion to dismiss the petition. The court found that the “exchange of the e-mails did not substantially comply with the terms of the [Omega] Trust.” The facts showed that the grantor “understood that documents amending the [Omega] Trust must be signed” and that “notice to the trustee included having the trustee acknowledge the receipt of the amendment.” The court found that because the Omega Trust “required all amendments to be executed, the failure to execute any amendment required a finding that the petition must be dismissed.” The court ruled that P had not shown “by clear and convincing evidence that [the grantor] intended the e-mails to be the amendment to his trust.” The court observed that the grantor “was still making corrections and waiting to see the final version from his attorney when he died.” It held that the grantor's “last e-mail does not indicate any intention that the amendment was completed at that point.” The court dismissed the petition. P appealed.

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