Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Your Probate Estate: 3 Types of Property | Byrd : Garrett, PLLC Blog

Oct 15, 2012 ?/? By: Geoffrey H. Garrett, Estate Planning Attorney ?/? Category: Probate, Wills and Trusts

When you die your property gets divided into two general categories: your probate estate and your non-probate estate. Your probate estate is all the property that will have to go before the probate court before it can be transferred to new owners. Not all of your property has to do this, and designing an estate plan which tries to keep your probate estate as small as possible is a common estate planning strategy. Let?s take a look at the three main types of property which fall into the probate estate category.

Individual Property

Anything you own as an individual, meaning you don?t own it as a joint owner with someone else, typically falls under the category of probate property. A home that you own in your name, or a personal vehicle or boat, is commonly covered under probate.

Non-Beneficiary Accounts

If you have bank accounts, retirement accounts, or insurance policies which allow you to name a beneficiary, this property does not have to go through probate. Other accounts in which you do not name a beneficiary, such as individual stocks you might own or bank accounts without beneficiary designations, are a part of your probate estate.

Non-Trust Property

Creating a living trust is a common estate planning tool, but may not be able to keep all of your property out of probate court. Anything the trust owns can bypass probate, but if you fail to transfer some of your property to the trust or you make an error during the trust funding process, the property will have to go through probate.

Byrd : Garrett, PLLC is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Source: http://www.byrdgarrett.com/blog/wills-and-trusts/probate-estate-3-types-property/

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