Why do I need to do a Pour-Over Will if I do a Living Trust in New York?
Your estate planning attorney may have recommended that you do a revocable living trust as the key document in your estate plan, rather than a Will.
A revocable living trust, if done correctly, will allow your estate to bypass the probate process, as well as keep your information private. Wills become a part of the public record after your death, whereas trusts do not.
If you’ve decided to do a revocable living trust, you may be surprised to learn that your attorney recommends that you also do a pour-over will. You may be wondering what the purpose of doing a Will is, since you’ve already decided that you would rather do a trust instead of a Will.
However, even if you decide you want to do a revocable living trust, you should still do a Pour-Over Will. A Pour-Over Will says that everything that you own at your death will pass into your revocable living trust.
The reason it’s done is to ensure that if you fail to title all of your assets to your trust while you are living, the assets will still pass into the trust at your death and will therefore go where you wish at your death.
The Pour-Over Will also states what happens to your assets if your trust is no longer in existence when you die.
Even if you own very few assets and you are sure that they are titled to the trust, you still should do a pour-over will.
Some people forget about assets that they own which are not titled in the name of the trust. In other cases, assets are not correctly titled to the trust and may have to go through probate in order to pass into the trust.
A simple pour-over will can help your assets pass into the trust so that your assets pass in the manner you wish.
To learn more about pour-over wills and revocable living trusts, call the New York Living Trust Attorneys at Friedman & Ranzenhofer, PC, PC at 716-542-5444. We will happy determine which documents will be best for your estate plan.