The Town Gift, and Will and Trust Amendments

I'm from a small town, but my hometown isn't nearly as small as Belmont, Maine (population 823).  I suppose that's why the writer of this article goes into so much detail about the gift made to Belmont by local citizen Karl Wentworth at his death. 

From my perspective, the most interesting part of the article was this:

"In 1993 Karl Wentworth of Belmont placed his assets in a trust that would benefit Waldo County General Hospital after he and his wife Clara passed on.  In 2002 he crossed out the hospital's name on the document and substituted the town of Belmont as the beneficiary. That change, entered and signed with a pen, will soon pay large dividends to the community where he lived for most of his 90 years."

Illinois has a statutory provision that allows a Will to be amended (at 755 ILCS 5/4-7(a) -- scroll down on this page), and most trust documents also contain language about how they may be amended. 

I'd love to know the basis for upholding Mr. Wentworth's amendment of his trust -- crossing out one beneficiary's name and inserting the name of another beneficiary is probably the worst way to make a change, since it raises all sorts of questions (involving things like fraud and capacity). Interestingly enough, the article states that "[t]he hospital made an early claim based on Wentworth's initial designation, but later withdrew."  I wonder if the hospital did so because it was convinced that a fight over Mr. Wentworth's assets would be bad for the town?

I think that leaving a clear record of what you've done is key, so I try to stress the following:

1. Wills that I draft include language revoking any and all prior Wills.

2. I make sure that my trust amendments and codicils (i.e. amendments to a Will) are very clear about which provisions are being revoked and/or inserted.

3. I attempt to take good notes during the estate planning process, so I can explain why a person made a certain change to his or her documents.