Keeping with the theme of the past few estate planning terms of the week - Living Will, Living Trust, and Power of Attorney - this week's estate planning term is another type of estate planning document - Pour Over Will.
A Pour Over Will is a special type of Last Will and Testament that is used in conjunction with a Revocable Living Trust. A Pour Over Will simply states that anything you own that is still titled in your individual name and has not been funded into your Revocable Living Trust on the date of your death will be "poured over" into the trust through the probate of your Pour Over Will.
If all goes as planned with your Revocable Living Trust, then your Pour Over Will won't be needed. But as we have seen recently with the estates of Michael Jackson and Sen. Ted Kennedy, both of whom had Pour Over Wills that have been admitted to probate, this type of will is often needed to settle the final affairs of a deceased person.