subject: Use A 'pour-over Will' For Whatever Doesn't Get Into Your Trust [print this page] A 'pour-over' Will pours into your trust everything you didn't get into your trust before you died, but was meant to. This article explains how a 'pour-over' Will is a good idea to have since some of your possessions may not - perhaps for reasons beyond your control - get into your trust while you're alive. Your 'pour-over' Will brings those excluded assets into your trust after you die.
You can plan to steer all our assets to your beneficiaries after your death so you can avoid the delays, costs, and publicity that the probate process entails. To do so, you set up a trust to assure that your assets go to your beneficiaries in the manner you prescribe. Perhaps you've assigned other assets to pass to beneficiaries according to other devices such as life insurance, qualified plans or joint ownerships arrangements. With all that done you're satisfied with how your assets will be distributed to your beneficiaries. Those assets, then, will not go through the probate process.
But assets solely in your name you don't put into your trust - or don't pass by other devices (life insurance, qualified plans, etc.) - will be probated by your state's county court. If you have no 'Will', those assets will pass according to the state laws on what is called "intestate succession". These laws specify in what order and to whom those assets will pass.
*Some assets often end up outside of your trust or other estate-transferring devices:
The reasons for their exclusion may be intentional or accidental. Those assets that carry a title - such as car or house - must be re-titled in the name of the trust; this can be a problem. The extra paper work to re-title them may seem to be a hassle for insurance purposes, so cars may often be intentionally left out of the trust. Of course, before death, it's hoped they'll be put into the trust. But those things we delay often never get done.
Accidental reasons for excluding possessions occur, too. Often, many families have become very large and one or more factions have moved off and lost touch with each other. But eventually some forgotten or lost relative dies and leaves - intentionally or through intestate laws - an inheritance that ends up being distributed to you. And until it reaches you, you're simply not aware of it, but its property in your name only.
*The pour-over Will saves the day :
With a pour-over Will you can make sure that such excluded assets will eventually go into your trust. Important is the fact that the trust must be in existence while you're alive to receive those excluded assets.
The benefit also of your pour-over Will is that it prevents the creation of an intestate estate for you. It covers any property that was intentionally or accidentally left out of the Trust during the your life. The terms you specify in the pour-over Will, cause all property you own at death to be "caught" and "poured-over" into your existing Trust.
Realize that the property 'caught' by a pour-over Will does have to go through probate though. But it'll eventually be distributed according to the trust instructions of the deceased and not according to the intestate laws of the state.
So, a pour-over Will is important to insure your intentions are carried out for all your assets as instructed in your trust.
