What is a pour-over will and why would I need one alongside a trust?

A pour-over will is a will that works as a safety net for your revocable living trust. It directs that any asset you owned at death but didn't retitle into the trust gets "poured over" into it, so everything ends up governed by the trust's terms. People need one because trust funding is rarely perfect — you might buy a car, open an account, or receive an inheritance and forget to move it in. The pour-over will captures those stragglers. The catch: assets caught by it still go through probate before reaching the trust, so it's a backstop, not a substitute for diligent funding. A pour-over will is also where you name guardians for minor children, which a trust can't do. Anyone using a living trust should pair it with one. Keep funding your trust diligently so the pour-over has as little as possible to catch.