What is a "Pour-Over Will" and do I need one?

This is a question I hear sometimes, and it is a good one.  The answer is fairly simple, but requires some back story. 

If you read my post about "trusts" then you understand that they are a way to hold and dispose of assets at death.  When a person with a trust dies, their property automatically passes to the person or people they name as beneficiaries.  But sometimes, people don't add things to their trust, and that is a problem.  A trust only passes on assets that are "owned" by the trust.  So if you have a trust that holds your house and its furniture, but you forgot to add your car to the trust, the trust does not pass the car to the trust beneficiaries.  

A "pour-over will" is a regular will, but instead of giving different gifts to different people, it usually simply passes all property under the will to the trust.  So instead of naming specific people to receive property under the will, the trust receives all the property, and then the property goes to the beneficiary or beneficiaries according to the trust documents.

So to answer the question, "do I need a pour-over will?" - No, not unless you have a trust that is current.  If you don't have a trust, a pour-over will would be ineffective.  It would pass your assets to a non-existent document.  

If you don't have a trust, you just need a regular, but properly drafted, will.  If you don't have a will, or if you need to update your trust, you can get one here, drafted by a licensed attorney, without the hassle or cost of going to a law firm, and without the risk of doing it yourself.