Many people creating an estate plan in Minnesota have heard about pour-over wills. Pour-over wills are a special kind of last will and testament designed to be used in conjunction with a revocable living trust. Like other wills, pour-over wills determine how you want your property to pass to new owners after you have died. However, because they’re used together with a revocable living trust, they typically serve a more limited number of purposes than a standard last will and testament. Here are several questions people have about pour-over wills.

Question 1. How do you make pour-over wills in Fertile MN?

You create these wills in the same way you create any other last will and testament. Pour-over wills are not really a specific type of will, but rather, are wills that serve a specific purpose. North Dakota and Minnesota law does not make any special requirements for people who want to make pour-over wills. Instead, people choosing to make these documents must ensure they meet the legal requirements that apply to all last wills and testaments. These requirements are slightly different depending on the state in which you live.

Question 2. What is a pour-over will do?

Like all wills, pour-over will state your choices about inheritances. However, the people who create pour-over wills do so knowing that they also have a revocable living trust. The living trust allows people to more easily transfer property to inheritors after they die, and to do so outside of the probate process.

Because of this, most people with a revocable living trust transfer as much of their personal property into the trust’s name as possible while they are still alive.

Unfortunately, transferring all your property into the trust’s name is not always possible. As a protection against property that isn’t transferred into the trust’s name, the pour-over will serves as a final safety net. Through the will, people direct that any property they have yet to transfer to the living trust will become transferred after they die.

Question 3. What are the advantages or disadvantages of a pour-over will?

One of the primary advantages of a pour-over will is that it is very simple. Because you are using your trust to transfer your property after you die, you don’t have to include complicated instructions in your will. Instead, you can use your trust to distribute your property directly.

However, pour-over wills, like all wills, have to be admitted to probate. This probate process, though usually simpler with a pour-over will, is not something you can avoid if you want your will to be effective.