Case Study – Probate
What happens when you set up your estate plan using a revocable living trust and in the pour-
over will there specifies certain bequests/gifts of property to certain individuals upon the death of the Trustor?
The short answer is, Probate.
Probate
A Pour-Over will is just one supporting document that work in conjunction with the revocable trust in a persons’ estate plan. The main purpose of the Pour-Over will is to make sure property, real and/or personal, that was never placed into a person’s revocable trust during their lifetime, is placed into the trust after the death of the Trustor. The asset is “Poured Into” the Trust by way of the Pour- Over will. If this is the case, depending on the value of the property, a probate will have to be opened
up to make sure that the item is placed and distributed in accordance with the trust.
A Pour-Over will should never list specific items of property for distribution to the heirs of the estate. If this happens, the will has to be probated. Property should be listed on a schedule referenced in the revocable trust document itself.
I have a case dealing with this particular problem now. The Pour-Over will listed certain items of property to be given to specific individuals upon the death of the trustor. To make matters worse, there were bank accounts not listed anywhere on the schedule of the trust with a valuation in excess of $600,000.00.
Listing gifts for distribution in your Pour-Over will instead of listing the items on the schedule in the trust defeats the whole purpose in setting up an estate plan, which is to avoid probate in order to avoid expensive costs and consumption of vast amounts of time.
If this scenario sounds eerily familiar, or if you do not have an estate plan in place, please contact me and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.