Assisting Clients In Achieving Success By Providing High-Quality Services

Understanding pour-over wills when planning your estate

When planning your estate, it is important to know information about the different types of wills available to you. Equipping yourself with all the details will help you to make wise decisions and will mean that your beneficiaries will stand to inherit as much of your estate as possible at the end of your life.

Pour-over wills are not typical will setups, but they instead provide a back-up plan for any of your property that has not been governed. It means that your trust becomes the beneficiary of any of your property that has not been assigned to it. These could be assets such as retirement plans or life insurance that are not already held within your trust.

Is probate required for a pour-over will?

Unfortunately, pour-over wills do require probate, unlike other solutions such as living trusts. This is why it is always ideal to make the effort to plan as much of your estate as possible, without it becoming necessary for a pour-over will to be put into place.

What should a pour-over will be used for?

A pour-over will should never be a first-choice solution, but rather it should be used as a safety net for any unassigned assets. It’s a good idea to conduct a yearly review of all of your trust documents and ensure that as many assets as possible are accounted for in order to avoid them going through the probate process.

If you are in the process of planning your estate, it is wise to consider how a pour-over will could act as a safety net for your estate.

Archives

RSS Feed

FindLaw Network