How a Will and a Trust Work Together
A pour-over will is one of the most common estate planning tools in Arizona. It serves as a safety net, catching any assets that were not transferred into your living trust during your lifetime and directing them into the trust at death. This statute is what makes that mechanism valid.
A will may validly devise property to the trustee of a trust established or to be established during the testator's lifetime by the testator alone, by the testator and some other person or by some other person, including a funded or unfunded life insurance trust, even if the settlor has reserved any or all rights of ownership of the insurance contracts.
A.R.S. § 14-2511(A)(1)This means the trust does not need to be irrevocable or fully funded for the pour-over to work. It can be a revocable living trust with a single dollar in it, or even a life insurance trust where the original owner kept all rights to change the policies. The will simply names the trustee as the recipient, and the assets flow into that trust structure after death.
What Happens If the Trust Changes or Disappears
One practical concern people raise: what if the trust is amended after the will is signed? Arizona addresses that directly. The devise remains valid even if the trust was amended after the will's execution or after the testator's death. The assets become part of the trust and follow its current terms, not the version that existed when the will was written.
Unless the testator's will provides otherwise, a revocation or termination of the trust before the testator's death causes the devise to lapse.
A.R.S. § 14-2511(C)If the trust is revoked or terminated before death, the gift in the will fails. The assets would then pass through the residuary clause of the will or, if none exists, through intestate succession. This is why keeping your estate plan documents coordinated matters. A pour-over will only works if there is a trust to pour into.
