Pour-Over Wills

A pour-over will allows a person's assets to be transferred to a trust upon their death. For the will to be valid, it must clearly identify the trust and the trust's terms must be documented in a written instrument that was created either before or at the same time as the will.

John has a trust that he created before drafting his will. In his will, he states that any remaining assets should go to the trustee of his trust. Since the trust is identified in the will and its terms were established prior, the assets will pour over into the trust upon John's death.

Pour it over: assets flow into the trust at death!

Students may confuse the requirements for a valid pour-over will with those of a standard will, overlooking the need for the trust to be identified and properly documented.

Questions often present a scenario where a will and trust are involved, testing whether the trust is adequately identified and if the timing of the documents meets the pour-over requirements.