What is a “Pour-Over” will?
A pour-over Will is a particular type of Will used in conjunction with a Trust. Most people intentionally don’t put all their property into the Trust, sometimes for convenience (such as a car — some states and insurance companies seem incapable of dealing with vehicles held in a trust) or other times for tax reasons (it may be Subchapter S stock that often does not fit well in a Trust, or real estate and they don’t want to risk triggering a property tax re-assessment). Most often people forget to put newly acquired property into a Trust on an on-going basis. To prevent the creation of an intestate estate, a pour-over Will is created to catch any property which had been (intentionally or inadvertently) left out of the Trust at the time of your death. By the terms of the pour-over Will, the property that it catches is distributed to the existing Trust. Whenever a Trust is used, it is essential to also have a pour-over Will to catch your property which was not held by the Trust, not held
Since it is sometimes impossible to include everything you own in your trust by deed, account or name, you will find included in this package, a simple “Pour Over Will.” Unlike the normal Last Will and Testament that you may be used to, the Pour Over Will simply directs your named Executor to “pour over” any asset which you failed to include in your trust, into your trust, for distribution under the terms of your living trust. Hopefully, we will have already transferred all major assets into the living trust so that no probate is necessary to transfer the remaining assets into the living trust through the Pour Over Will. You may wish to think of the Pour Over Will as a safeguard for any assets inadvertently left out of your trust.
A “pour-over” will is used to distribute any property that is acquired in the name of the grantor after the living trust was established, or any property that was not transferred into the trust in the first place. The use of “pour-over,” together with a living trust ensures that assets not held in trust will be distributed in accordance with the wishes of the deceased. A “pour-over” will, like any other will, must go through probate if the decedent dies owning assets, which must pass through the will.
