pour-over willn.
Reviewed by Owen Hathaway, AttorneyUpdated June 1, 2026A short will used alongside a living trust. It catches any asset left out of the trust at death and directs it into the trust, where the trust's terms take over.
A pour-over will is a will designed to work with a revocable living trust. Rather than distributing assets itself, it directs that any probate property not already titled in the trust be transferred (poured over) into the trust at death, to be administered under the trust's terms.
Because assets caught by a pour-over will still pass through probate before reaching the trust, the pour-over will functions as a safety net, not a substitute for fully funding the trust during life.
Recognized in both Colorado and Wyoming as part of standard trust-based planning. The pour-over device does not avoid probate for the assets it captures; only assets retitled into the trust during life avoid probate.
Related terms
- probateThe court-supervised process of proving a will, paying a deceased person's debts, and transferring what's left to the heirs or beneficiaries.
- revocable living trustA trust created while you are alive that you can change or cancel at any time. It holds your assets so they can pass to the people you choose without probate, and lets a person you name step in to manage things if you become unable to.
- trust fundingThe step of actually moving assets into a trust, retitling accounts and deeds and lining up beneficiary designations in the trust's name. A trust controls only what it owns, so an unfunded trust accomplishes nothing no matter how well it is drafted.
- willA signed, witnessed document that says who gets a person's probate property after death and names an executor to carry it out. It takes effect only at death and only after probate.