Also known as: pour-over · pour over · pourover will · pour-over will · pour-over trust · pourover trust
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A provision in a will that adds property to an inter vivos trust or funds a trust whose terms are set forth in an instrument executed during the testator's lifetime. The devise may be validated by statute, incorporation by reference, or independent significance. Revocation or termination of the referenced trust before the testator's death causes the devise to lapse unless the will provides otherwise.
Parker Phillips executed a will that directed the residue of his estate to the trustee of a revocable trust he had created years earlier with his sister. The trust instrument had been signed during his lifetime though it remained unfunded until death. After Parker died, the personal representative transferred the estate assets into the trust for administration according to its terms.
Priscilla Parks signed a will pouring her brokerage account into a trust identified by a corporate employee benefits booklet that her employer had prepared for workforce administration. The booklet existed apart from any testamentary purpose and had been modified by the employer after the will was executed. The court upheld the devise because the booklet supplied the trust terms through independent significance.
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Philip Powell's estate included assets poured over from his will into a terminated inter vivos trust. His heirs filed a federal action claiming the pour-over lapsed and seeking distribution under state intestacy rules. The court dismissed the suit, holding that the dispute over the poured-over assets remained a core probate matter outside federal jurisdiction.
The devise lapses unless the will provides otherwise. The property then passes under the residuary clause or by intestacy. Multiple bar questions confirm that revocation or termination of the trust before death defeats the pour-over when the will is silent.
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Validation occurs through incorporation by reference or independent significance. Independent significance is preferred because it permits post-execution amendments and does not require the trust instrument to exist at will execution. Incorporation by reference is used only when no other basis is available.
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Yes. Both the original and revised Uniform Testamentary Additions to Trusts Acts expressly provide that the devise is not invalid because the trust was amended after the will or after the testator's death. The poured-over property is administered under the governing instrument as amended.
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Yes. The Restatement definition expressly includes a trust that was not funded during the testator's lifetime provided its terms appear in an instrument executed while the testator lived. The will itself can fund the trust at death.
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…claim they are entitled to the decedent’s entire estate as her sole heirs at law. In upholding the validity of the decedent’s pour-over trust, the judge cited the relevant provisions of G. L. c. 203, § 3B, inserted by St. 1963, c. 418, § 1, the Commonwealth’s version of the Uniform Testamentary Additions to Trusts Act. “A devise…