Also known as: pour-over · pour over · pourover · pour-over will · pour-over trust
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A provision in a will that adds property to an inter vivos trust or funds a trust that was not funded during the testator's lifetime but whose terms are in a trust instrument executed during the testator's lifetime. The devise may be validated by statute, incorporation by reference, or independent significance.
Pierce Patterson executes a will that devises the residue of his estate to the trustee of an inter vivos trust he created years earlier for his children. At his death the trust holds assets and the will identifies it by name. The pour-over adds the probate assets to the existing trust for administration under its terms.
Phuong Pham signs a will pouring her brokerage account into a trust identified by a corporate benefits booklet her employer maintains for employee compensation. The booklet exists for employment purposes separate from the will. The pour-over is validated because the booklet supplies the trust terms with independent significance.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Patrick Phan leaves assets via a pour-over will to a trust. After his death a dispute arises over whether claims concerning the trust assets belong in probate court or federal court. The pour-over structure determines whether the assets are treated as part of the probate estate for jurisdictional purposes.
The devise lapses unless the will provides otherwise. The specific gift to the trustee fails and the property passes under the residuary clause or by intestacy.
Supporting sources
Validation occurs through statute, incorporation by reference, or independent significance. A statute such as the Uniform Testamentary Additions to Trusts Act commonly supplies the authority even if the trust is created or amended after the will.
Supporting sources
No. Modern statutes expressly provide that the devise remains valid even if the trust is amended after the will is executed or after the testator's death, and the poured assets are administered under the amended terms.
Supporting sources
…claim they are entitled to the decedent’s entire estate as her sole heirs at law. In upholding the validity of the decedent’s pour-over trust, the judge cited the relevant provisions of G. L. c. 203, § 3B, inserted by St. 1963, c. 418, § 1, the Commonwealth’s version of the Uniform Testamentary Additions to Trusts Act. “A devise…