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Pour-Over Will
Legal/Rights§ 01 — Definition
A pour-over will is the companion document to a living trust. It catches anything you owned at death that was never retitled into the trust and directs it — pours it over — into the trust, so that asset is distributed under the trust's terms rather than by state intestacy law. Assets caught by a pour-over will still go through probate first, which is why it is a safety net rather than a plan. A pour-over will is also where parents of minor children nominate a guardian of the person, which is often the single most consequential sentence in the entire estate plan.
§ 02 — Why it matters for benefits
Families almost always forget to retitle something — a credit union account, a newly bought vehicle, an inherited stake. The pour-over will ensures that stray asset still lands in the special needs trust instead of passing outright to a child whose benefits it would disqualify.