Does any part of the estate bypass the probate process?
Generally, when a person dies, the estate passes through the probate process, which entails validating the will, dealing with any contest of the will, paying creditors and taxes and dealing with disbursement of property. Probate can ensure that the will or estate of the decedent is dealt with cleanly and efficiently, but it can be a time consuming – and sometimes costly – affair.
There are certain parts of the estate that will not have to go through probate for various reasons, and these include:
- Co-ownership property and assets: these will pass directly to the co-owner and can include assets such as bank accounts, property, land and anything else that were held in join names when the decedent was alive.
- Insurance policies and benefits: If the decedent took out insurance policies during his lifetime, these can pass straight to the beneficiary without going through probate. Likewise, if the decedent was in receipt of benefits that were designed to pay out to a spouse of other beneficiary upon death, these would also bypass probate.
- Transfers: Money from IRAs and Keoghs will also transfer automatically, and will not have to go through the probate process in order to be transferred to the named beneficiary.
- Bank accounts: The decedent may have had bank accounts, which were designed to pay out to a beneficiary upon death of the accountholder. In this case, these particular accounts will not have to pass through probate.
- Living trusts: Any property under a living trust can also bypass the probate process, as this sort of trust survives even after the death of the legal owner)
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