How to Use Pour-Over Wills In Oklahoma Estate Planning

Pour-Over Wills In Oklahoma Estate Planning are one of many useful tools in the distribution of property after you pass away. The type of tools a person uses in their estate planning really depends on what property they have to distribute to heirs. It also depends on the type of trust they have and other probate avoidance tools at their disposal. Like all estate planning the primary reason people do it is because they want to distribute assets on death in the way they decide to get it done. Another reason for estate planning may be to avoid probate and to reduce expenses for their heirs when the time comes to distribute estate property.

How Pour-Over Wills in Oklahoma Work

To create an effective pour-over will, you must create the trust either before or at the same time as the will. Under the law allowing for the creation of pour-over wills in Oklahoma, the terms of the trust must be written down in a document executed before or concurrently with the will.

To create pour-over wills in Oklahoma that cover all of your estate, you would simply say that all of the assets in your estate (after payouts like debts, funeral expenses and taxes) shall be bequeathed to the trust. Alternatively, you may give some of your property to specific people or institutions, then declare that the remainder will be poured over into the trust. Either way, your will would state that the rest of your estate – in technical legal terms, the “residue” – will go into the trust.

Is A Trust Good For Me?

Creating a trust benefits you and your family in several ways. One way is it allows you to give more detailed instructions regarding how and under what circumstances property is given out. It can also be used to distributed trust property over a period of time. And, in like most estates, you avoid the hassle of probate court and protect the assets from inheritance taxes. Also, changing a trust requires fewer formal procedures than changing a will, so using a trust as part of your estate planning gives you more flexibility over time.

A Revocable Living Trust

For most people, the best way to use a trust for estate planning is to create a revocable or “living” trust. A living trust is a trust that is created when you are alive. A trust manages some or all of your property while you are still living. You set up the trust naming you as a beneficiary/trustee while you are alive. In the trust you decide who are the beneficiaries when you pass. You can make your beneficiaries who ever you want including institutions or charitable groups. In your trust you create a trustee. The trustee distributes the assets how ever you direct them to. A revocable trust gives you all sorts of flexibility to make changes through out your life.

When you create a trust you need to fund it. This means you have to place certain assets in the trust name. With a revocable trust you still maintain absolute control of the assets because you are both the trust maker and the beneficiary/trustee of the trust. An example of funding your trust is placing your house in the trust. This means that once you create the trust you fund it by transferring the house to the trust.

This is an example of funding the trust. Once the house is in the trust you still own it but the house is now titled in the name of your living revocable trust. If for some reason you want to remove the house from the trust or you sell the house you can do it. The reason you can do this is because you own the trust and can revoke it at any time.

Irrevocable Trusts in Oklahoma

Unlike the revocable trust set out above the irrevocable trust can not be dissolved or revoked by you at any time. Rather, once you create the trust and fund it with assets the assets now belong to the trust and the trust alone. Using the example of funding it with your house. Once put in the Trust you can no longer take it back out as its owned only by the trust. The trust can still provide you with use of the house or any proceeds that may be generated by the house but its ownership is irrevocable.

There are many kinds of irrevocable trusts serving many different purposes. An example may be medical trusts or remainder trusts and charitable trusts. An irrevocable trusts main purpose is as an asset protection tool. This is because once the asset is in the trust its not yours and cant be seized or leveed against by creditors. Its also a great tool for reducing taxes both estate taxes and other types of taxes.

When Do I Use a Poor Over Will

A pour-over provision allows you to keep assets that you want while you are alive, knowing that when you die, they will be poured into the trust. In short, you keep the benefit of the trust for estate-planning purposes, but you can still enjoy your property while you are alive. Then, when you die, the will pours whatever is left of your estate into your trust. Most people who create a poor over will do it in case they forgot to put something in the name of the trust. This alows them to use it as a catchall that captures for the trust those things that weren’t placed in trust before they died.

Tulsa Estate Planning Attorneys

A pour-over will is just one of several things that you’ll want to review and consider for estate planning purposes in Oklahoma. Kania Law Office’s skilled probate and trust attorneys have assisted many Oklahomans get their estate plans done correctly through the use of pour-over wills and living trusts, among other things. For more insights on using wills and trusts in your estate plan, get in touch with the Oklahoma estate planning lawyers at Kania Law Office by calling (918) 743-2233 or by contacting us online.