Why Every Trust Needs a Will: The Pour-Over Will
Every trust needs a will. While a trust can serve as your primary estate planning document, it is also important to have a will as a safety net.
A trust needs to be properly funded to function. Over the years, you may forget or not put in newly acquired real estate or other assets in the name of trust. You might forget to add a beneficiary designation to an account. What happens is that your trust doesn’t cover these assets, and these assets go to probate.
This is where a will comes in. In the will, you can specify the trust as the beneficiary. This means any leftover assets outside the trust flow into the trust after you pass away. While you will need to probate the will, those assets are still sent to the trust. This type of a will is called a pour-over will – the assets outside the trust “pour-over” into the trust via the will.
What would happen if you didn’t have the will? Well, the assets outside the will would be subject to intestate succession laws and be evenly divided among your surviving blood relatives. This means your trust has no effect on those assets and your heirs will need to go through probate court. Because larger estates tend to favor trusts, this means that probate court fees will tend to be very high. We can avoid that issue with a pour over will, and your assets will be distributed as specified in your trust.
David Akrami Law offers every trust estate plan with a pour over will at no additional charge. Schedule a consultation today to get in touch with a lawyer and discuss your estate planning needs.
consultation with an attorney for more information.