Will’s Can Save Time and Money For Your Loved Ones
Video Transcribed: My name is Jason Lile; I am a Tulsa probate lawyer. You may or may not have seen my video about living revocable trust. If you haven’t, I will encourage you to go back and watch it, but it was in the context of the five documents I most frequently draft for my estate planning clients.
The second one that I’d like to talk about is a will. Now, if you have a trust and can refer back to that video, you might think, why would I need a will? There are a couple of reasons. Number one, you need a pour-over will, we call it. Because when you set up a trust, you fund the trust with your things, typically tileable things. You might transfer the title for a car, bank account, or house into your trust.
But as the trust ages, and as time goes by, let’s be honest, we’re not all perfectly efficient about adding things to it or amending this trust. So when it’s time for it to be used, it might be 20 years down the road.
A pour-over will say, “If you take my estate to probate,” anybody who files probate, “everything that I own is poured over into the trust.” That’s the term pour-over will. The second reason to have a will is that, oddly enough, guardianship provisions, if you have minor children go through the probate court. So yes, we can have your successor trustee administer your trust and ensure your things are going where they’re supposed to go.
But if you have a preference for guardianship and you and your other parent or co-parent or spouse are gone, then the preference for who you want guardianship of your children will be in the probate document, and the pour-over will.
In addition, guardianship preferences for yourself, should you need an adult guardianship, will also go in a will. So frequently, the living revocable trust and the pour-over will function together to cover all your bases concerning taking care of your things after you pass away, or if you’re incapacitated and taking care of your children or yourself if you’re incapacitated and need guardianship. It’s complicated, but I’m happy to help. If you ever need a Tulsa Estate Planning Attorney, a Tulsa Will Drafting Attorney, or a Tulsa Trust Attorney, you can contact me at oklahomawillandtrust.com.