Even a properly funded living trust benefits from a companion document: a pour-over will. It's designed to catch any assets that, for whatever reason, weren't transferred into the trust before death, and direct them into it.
Why assets end up outside the trust anyway
Despite best efforts, it's common for something to be acquired after the trust was funded and never formally retitled — a new bank account, a piece of property bought later, a settlement or inheritance received close to death.
What a pour-over will actually does
Rather than distributing assets directly to beneficiaries, a pour-over will directs any assets in the deceased's individual name at death into the trust, where they're then distributed according to the trust's terms rather than under separate instructions.
It doesn't avoid probate for those assets
Assets caught by a pour-over will still generally have to go through probate before reaching the trust — the will doesn't provide the probate-avoidance benefit of the trust itself, it just ensures anything left outside the trust ends up distributed the way the trust intends.
Why it's still worth having despite that limitation
A pour-over will acts as a safety net, ensuring your overall estate plan holds together even if trust funding wasn't perfectly completed — without one, anything left outside the trust would pass under your state's default intestacy rules instead of your actual wishes.