How a Consumer Hired a Lawyer to Draft an Investment Advisory Contract in Washington

If the original agreement allowed for the advisor to make these changes unilaterally (without your input/consent) and/or on some predefined periodic basis, then yes, they can. However, if the agreement is silent about changes to the terms of your relationship, or is otherwise restrictive about how/when changes can happen, then no, they can't simply decide to change the terms. The next thing you'll want to evaluate is the termination language of your agreement and see if and how much notice is required for either of you to end the relationship. It's sometimes the case that the change notification you received is really an attempt to get you to terminate the agreement when they don't have the power to do so. But you'd need someone to review the agreement for you to provide competent advice.

Generally speaking and without seeing the contract, there are usually two ways to get out of contract - (i) under the terms of the agreement or (ii) breaching the contract. First, without a breach of the agreement to determine whether you can do this you need to review the contract to see if there are service levels, promised returns, or other commitments that the IA is not meeting. Then you need to look at the section on termination in the contract and see if their failure to fulfill their obligations is covered and what the process is for termination, i.e. is there a breach cure period, is there a dispute resolution provisions, any penalty/fee for early termination and what are the notice provisions. The other way is to Breach the contract which would be stopping performing your obligations under it which I would assume without seeing it are likely just payment of fees. The potential consequences of breaching a contract could include lawsuits, financial penalties, and damage to your reputation. Also before resorting to breaching the contract, I would suggest exploring negotiation with the Investment Advisor as they may be willing to amend the terms or agree to an early termination. I will also add, in any event, you should be keeping a detailed record of all communications with the Investment Advisor, especially if there are performance issues or disputes. This documentation can be crucial if legal action becomes necessary.