Proper estate planning requires a thorough approach to your situation. You need a plan that covers all of your needs and plans for everything that life throws your way. Our team focuses on a holistic approach to planning that provides significant financial advantages but also ensures you’re protected.
You have worked hard for the wealth and assets you own today and part of estate planning is dictating what happens to your hard work when you’re gone. We often focus on the advantages of establishing trusts to manage money and assets, but what happens when those trusts don’t cover everything you have?
This is where a pour-over will come in. You are able to provide guidance for everything that’s left when the planning is said and done through this document.
What is a Pour-Over Will?
A pour-over will is as its name suggests – a last will and testament that addresses the assets left out of your trust after your death. What happens to small bank accounts that are not titled to your trust upon your death? What about assets you acquired late in life and never added to your trust? What happens if you take the house out of your trust for a refinance, but forget to put it back in?
This type of will provides a safety net that moves the assets in question into the trust after you pass away. Estate law does not allow us to make changes to an estate plan once the owner of the estate passes away, so this protects anyone who predeceases changes to their plan.
Tying a Pour-Over Will to Your Trust
Because this is a mechanism to transfer assets into a trust, your pour-over will must be tied to a trust in order to be effective. It’s important to set up a pour-over will with your trust and cover all the necessary ground you’re able to while you’re alive.
When establishing a living trust, you are able to draft a pour-over will as well and list the trustee as its executor. This indicates that you want the probate court to move any assets left out of the trust into the trust before the execution of your estate takes place.
Rely on the Guidance of an Experienced Estate Planning Attorney
Estate planning comes with significant layers and nuances that require the careful attention of an estate planning attorney. You need to ensure your plan is not only thorough but accurate to avoid leaving your hard work and legacy in limbo after your death.
At The Law Offices of Tyler Q. Dahl, we will ensure all bases are covered before finalizing your estate. Ultimately, an estate plan is a living plan that evolves throughout your life. A pour-over will allows you to cover your bases should you die unexpectedly or be otherwise unable to update your plan when you acquire new assets.Contact our team of Sacramento, California estate planning professionals to ensure your estate is in good hands.
Dahl Law Group
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