How Do I Avoid Probate?
Probate reaches only what a person owned in their own name alone at death. A home held jointly or under a transfer on death deed, a payable on death account, a policy or retirement plan with a named beneficiary and property in a revocable trust pass by their own instruments where the state's law provides for them.
Probate reaches only what a person owned in their own name alone at death. An asset passes outside it where the state's law gives it another route: a surviving joint owner, a payable on death or transfer on death designation, a named beneficiary on a policy or retirement plan, or title in a revocable trust. The state pages print, for each asset, what that state's statute does with it and the instrument the state names.
It depends on the state's multiple-party account statute. In 49 of the 51 jurisdictions recorded, the pay on death section passes the sums to the named beneficiary at the owner's death; in the others the statute names whom the bank may pay without saying who owns the money, and the state page says so.
In 28 of the 51 jurisdictions recorded, the nonprobate-transfer statute names an insurance policy, so the death benefit is paid to the designated beneficiary outside probate. A policy payable to the estate, or with no beneficiary, is part of the probate estate everywhere.
An employer plan pays its death benefit by the plan's own records under federal law, which displaces a state rule that would redirect it. An IRA follows the state's statute: 23 of the 51 jurisdictions name an individual retirement account in their nonprobate-transfer clause. An account with no beneficiary named is part of the probate estate.
A home passes to a surviving joint owner outside probate; 35 jurisdictions also recognize a transfer on death deed to a named beneficiary, and a home retitled to a revocable trust passes under the trust. 27 jurisdictions title a vehicle with a transfer on death designation. A home or vehicle in the owner's name alone is part of the probate estate.
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Last Will and Testament
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Add, revoke or replace provisions of your will and republish the rest, signed as your state requires for a will.
HIPAA Release
Name who may receive your medical records, in the authorization federal law requires, with your state's rules for sensitive records. Free for every state.
Transfer on Death Deed
Transfer real property to a beneficiary upon your death without probate. Available in 34 states and the District of Columbia.
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